The Oyo State Council of the National Union of Road Transport workers (NURTW) under the leadership of Alhaji Abideen Olajide (aka Ejiogbe) has hosted past leaders of the union.
It promised to always consult them for advice and guidance.
The union’s acting State Chairman, Alhaji Abideen Olajide Ejiogbe, spoke in Ibadan, the state capital.
The union leader said the idea came from NURTW’s president.
He said the president gave the directive at the national headquarters in Abuja at stakeholders’ meeting.
Former leaders at the meeting included Alhaji Abdul Azeez Bogunbe, a former General Secretary of the union; Chief James Ojewunmi, a former state Chairman; Alhaji Wasiu Abubakir (aka Tawakalitu), also a former State Chairman, and Comrade Akin James, a former Deputy General Secretary.
Alhaji Lateef Akinsanya (aka Tokyo) was absent.
A Deputy General Secretary of the union, who was seconded from national headquarters of the union to oversee administration of the union in the state, Comrade Kayode Agbeyangi, promised that everything would be done to bring Tokyo into the fold.
The remains of Oyo State and Southwest Chairman of the National Union of Road Transport Workers (NURTW), Alhaji Taofeek Oyerinde (aka Fele), were interred yesterday according to Islamic rites at his Elebu, Ibadan home.
The burial, which was held amid tears and wailing by his family, colleagues, associates, was witnesses by officials of the union from different parts of the country, security chiefs and government officials.
Dignitaries at the event include the Special Adviser to Oyo State Governor on Security, Mr Segun Bolarinwa (who represented the government), Police Commissioner Abiodun Odude, Kehinde Subair, Akeem Ige, Sunday Adeyemo (aka Sunday Igboho), some Nollywood actors and musicians.
NURTW’s National President Najim Yasin announced Fele’s death in a radio broadcast on Tuesday night.
The body of the union leader, who died at an Abuja hospital of kidney-related ailment, was led by the Osun State Chairman of the union, Mr Folorunso Olalekan (aka Lekan Salam).
It arrived Ibadan at 9.20 am in a white Toyota Hiace ambulance, with registed as (Abuja) RAHIS 8.
The ambulance was piloted in a convoy from Ire-Akari junction to his house amid tears.
The body was handed over for Islamic Janazah (pre-burial rites).
It was returned at 10.07 am for a special prayer, led by Sheikh AbdulRosheed Babalamunigun, with other Islamic clerics.
The body was shrouded in a light lemon coloured mat and taken to a garage in the compound for interment at 10.12 am.
The funeral rites were accompanied by panegyrics and shouts of continual Allahu Akbar! (Allah is Great) as the body was lowered to the grave.
There was an outburst of emotions when Fele’s wife, Alhaja Kemi, and the children were led to perform the dust-to-dust rites.
Fele’s eldest son, Alhaji Afeez Oyerinde, thanked the people for their love and support for his father.
He said: “My father was a soft personality who loved to help people until his death. I do not know him by any wicked act. His death was surprising, shocking and painful to me. My prayer is that Allah should forgive him of his sins.
“I want to appeal to everybody, because I know he was a man of many people, to let us mind our utterances. No one can kill anybody. Allah, in his infinite mercies, gives life to human beings and He is the only One who can take it. I am of the strong opinion that Allah gave us my father and the same Allah took him away from us.”
Also, the past Deputy Secretary General of the NURTW in Southwest, Alhaji Moshood Ajao, who led the union’s members from Abuja, described the late Oyerinde as “the best state chairman the union ever produced.
He said: “Today is a sad day for our union in Nigeria because death plucked the best rose from our garden.”
NURTW’s Lagos State Chairman Tajudeen Agbede said Oyerinde’s death was a great loss to the union and the nation.
Gov. Abiola Ajimobi of Oyo State has described the sudden death of Alhaji Taofeek Oyerinde, the state’s Chairman of the National Union of Road and Transport Workers(NURTW), as depressing and tragic.
This was contained in a statement signed by his Special Adviser on Communication and Strategy, Mr Bolaji Tunji, and made available to newsmen on Tuesday.
The News Agency of Nigeria(NAN) reports that Oyerinde, popularly known as ‘Fele,’ died at Zenith Medical Kidney Hospital, Abuja, on Tuesday afternoon.
NAN reports that Oyerinde, until his death, was also the South West Chairman of NURTW.
The governor said he received the news of Oyerinde’s death with a heavy heart and utter disbelief.
Ajimobi also described the death of the NURTW chairman as a huge loss to the family, the state and the South West Zone.
He said that he was particularly pained because he had lost a dependable ally and purveyor of peace.
The governor said that he was proud of Oyerinde’s emergence as the South West NURTW Chairman.
Ajimobi stated that his emergence was in recognition of his sterling leadership ability and propagation of peace as well as orderliness among the drivers.
“I am greatly saddened by the passing away of Fele.
“ It is very unfortunate and disheartening. He has over time proved to be a dependable ally in our administration’s quest to restore peace to the land.
“That the motor parks across the state are rancour and violence-free today can be partly attributed to his yeoman efforts to whip errant and rapacious drivers into line.
“He commands respect among the drivers for his sterling leadership qualities.
“ His death is indeed a big loss, not only to his family but also to the NURTW nationwide and the entire people of Ibadanland.
“May the Almighty grant the family and loved ones the fortitude to bear this great loss.
“ I urge members to respect the new directive of the union’s national leadership which appointed his deputy, Alhaji Abideen Olajide, as acting chairman,” he said.
The governor urged them to respect the decision and go about their lawful activities without rancour.
“I enjoin the good people of Oyo State to be vigilant around the motor parks and report any act capable of breaching the public peace without delay.
“May Allah repose the gentle soul of the deceased and grant him the highest place in Jannah,’’ he said.
Ajimobi sued for calm and admonished the NURTW leadership in the state to eschew violence and leadership tussle at this time, stressing that members must maintain sobriety in honour of the deceased.
NAN recalls that the news of Oyerinde’s death was broken by the National President of NURTW, Alhaji Najeem Yasin.
Yasin, who spoke from Saudi Arabia, confirmed that Oyerinde died at the Zenith Medical Kidney Hospital in Abuja on Tuesday.
He said: “With a heavy heart, I announce the death of one of the leaders of this union, who was the Oyo State chairman, Alhaji Taofeek Oyerinde, popularly known as Fele.
“Oyerinde, who is also the South West Chairman of the Union, died this afternoon at Zenith Medical Kidney Hospital, Abuja.
“I am talking to you from Saudi Arabia. I am in Minna, Saudi Arabia, when he died and was the first person the hospital informed about his death,” he said.
Yasin said the corpse of the late Oyo NURTW boss was already in transit to his Elebu, Ibadan residence, where he would be buried between 9 and 10 am on Wednesday.
He prayed that God forgives his sins and grant the family the fortitude to bear the sudden loss.
The NURTW president also approved the appointment of his deputy as the acting chairman, urging members to cooperate with him.
NAN recalls that Oyerinde became the Oyo State NURTW chairman months after the emergence of Ajimobi in 2011. (NAN)
Following rampant cases of kidnapping and criminal activities involving taxi cabs in Oyo State, Chairman of the National Union of Road Transport Workers (NURTW) in the state, Alhaji Taofeek Oyerinde, has read a riot act to commercial drivers operating in the state.
While addressing journalists at the weekend shortly after a meeting he had with members of the Road Transport Workers held at its secretariat in Olomi area in Ibadan, the state capital, Oyerinde said it was now an offence for anybody to use vehicles for commercial purposes without due registration or painting in official colour as directed by the state government.
He said reports of kidnapping by commercial bus drivers for theft and rituals have become worrisome, vowing that the union is poised to rid itself of criminal elements.
According to him, commercial buses in the state would henceforth operate with the official colour of white with blue stripes, while urging members of the public to report any suspicious activity by any driver to the police.
The union boss said though complaints are mostly on mini taxis commonly called Micra, but attention of the union would also focus on other vehicles, particularly those used for inter-state transportation.
He added that official painting of commercial vehicles is to enable the union to identify perpetrators of the criminal acts from law abiding commercial bus drivers.
Until recently, the activities of the National Union of Road Transport Workers (NURTW) in Oyo State had always been violent. SIKIRU AKINOLA traces how the union became synonymous with violence and how it achieved peace in the past four years.
Ayinde Ewu (pseudonym) couldn’t say precisely when he became a member of the Oyo State chapter of the National Union of Road Transport Workers (NURTW). But his narrative of the event that preceded the death of the late business mogul and acclaimed winner of June 12, 1993 presidential election, it is obvious that he has been a member of the union for over two decades.
In a bid to prevent his ‘chairman’ from being ousted from one of the motor parks in Iwo Road, which is regarded as one of the richest branches of the union in the state, he escaped death but didn’t go without sustaining injuries.
“I got to the motor parks very early in the morning and had made huge sales until I saw one of our boys running towards me, advising me to take to my heels or get killed. Before I could ask what the matter was, I saw these people in large number, with dangerous objects moving towards our office.
“There was no charm on me. I ran for my dear life but thank God the people were not armed with gun. They continued to run after me and when they caught me, a thought came to my mind and I ran inside one petrol station, hijacked the nuzzle from the attendant, pressed a little petrol and brought out a lighter from my pocket.”
Scratching his head, he continued: “At that point, they stopped and moved backward. I was relieved and encouraged. I threatened that if they dare move nearer, I would press nuzzle and set the place ablaze. We did this for a while before I scaled the fence,” the 37-year-old father of seven told Southwest Report when asked about his experience as an executive member of the union.
The activities of the NURTW in Oyo State were, especially in the years before Governor Abiola Ajimobi’s administration, brutal. Killing, thuggery, maiming and all forms of anti-social behaviours characterised the union. Apart from killing their members, innocent citizens who were unfortunate to be at a wrong place at the wrong time were not spared. Major parts of Ibadan, the Oyo State capital, were always seized whenever they strike. You dared not pass through Iwo Road, Ojoo and Olomi area where its state headquarters is located.
Whenever there is about to be a change in leadership, it is not without bloodshed. The event of August of 2011 is still fresh in the memories of those who lost relatives or sustained varying degrees of injuries. Over 10 people, including the President of the Nigerian Medical Students, were killed, after two factions of the union that were embroiled in leadership tussle engaged each other, using dangerous weapons freely.
Many described the week-long incident as a ‘seasonal film’ as major areas were deserted for fear that the factional groups of the union may be involved in reprisal attacks. Before security agents could nip it, many shops have been looted and burnt while many cars were either vandalised or burnt. Many road users had to abandon their cars for fear of being killed.
NURTW, which has its national headquarters in Abuja and chairmen at geo-political and state levels, is believed to be an association of operators of commercial buses and cabs. It also has chairmen at the local government level.
At will, they smoke Indian hemp in public, looking tattered and unkempt. The selling of locally brewed gin (ogogoro) which they mix with other substances, near their parks doesn’t help matter.
Money, catalyst for violence
Members of the union, especially its leadership, are said to be credit worthy due to the enormous income that comes in every day. For example, drivers plying Olodo on the outskirts of Ibadan to Bere in the heart of the city pay more than N700 before they get to their terminus. You’ll pay at Olodo, Iyana Church, Iwo Road, Gate, Oje and Bere.
From this daily dues, certain amount is allocated for some executive members, especially the chairmen for daily upkeep, while there is also a fixed amount which is taken to the state headquarters, depending on the financial strength of the branches and units.
It is not difficult to see some of the executive members displaying their wealth. Automobile dealers are quick to sell cars and buses to the union members and allow them to pay by instalments. In choice areas of the state, especially where only the rich can afford, their mansions are located with the latest sport utility vehicle. Some are into oil business, farming and automobile. Worst is that they get recognition from politicians. During elections, they use them to intimidate perceived enemies.
From violence to peace
Since 1993 when Alhaji Lateef Akinsola (Tokyo, now Oloruntoki) was said to have hijacked power from the then NURTW chairman and boss, Chief James Ojewunmi, who was elected in 1983 to succeed Alhaji Bashiru Adigun, who served for nine years, the union has been enmeshed in leadership crises. Tokyo was chairman of inter-state unit at Agodi Gate, Ibadan and was deputy to Ojewunmi.
•Ife/Iwo Road garage in Ibadan,
Until Tokyo overthrew him, his tenure was said to be peaceful as he approved loans for members.
Violence became more pronounced during Tokyo’s reign in Oyo State and later in the whole of Southwest.
He started his tenure by not allowing commercial vehicles belonging to his former boss and those loyal to him into the park. They roamed the streets looking for loyalists of Ojewunmi, grounding and towing vehicles in sight. He was in power till 2003 when former Governor Rashidi Ladoja was elected.
Alhaji Wasiu Abubakre (a.k.a Tawa), a loyalist of Ojewumi and one of the few who challenged Tokyo’s high handedness was unanimously elected but his tenure was truncated 30 months after. Tokyo, in his characteristic manner, hijacked power again, this time, through the help of the late strongman of Ibadan politics, Lamidi Adedibu.
Tokyo later met his waterloo as he was later fingered in the murder of an Ogbomoso-based leader of the union by the administration of Rashidi Ladoja. He was arrested and remanded at Agodi Prison.
This, and other acts considered antagonistic by the Ladoja’s administration, drew the ire of Adedibu. The battle line was drawn. He enlisted the support of Tokyo’s ‘lieutenants’, especially Lateef Salako (Eleweomo) and Mukaila Lamidi (Auxiliary).
For 11 months, before Ladoja’s re-instatement, the state was thrown into confusion. After Ladoja was illegally impeached, the process for the release of Tokyo from remand was fast-tracked. Relief came his way as he was released during the administration of Ladoja’s estranged deputy, Chief Adebayo Alao-Akala, who took over from him.
Governor Akala was said to have struck an agreement with Tokyo’s ‘chief of staff’, Eleweomo who was later to be killed during the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) ward congress at Olunloyo area of Ona-Ara Local Government Area of Ibadan.
The Alao-Akala’s administration later proscribed the activities of the union but Tokyo and his men stayed put at the Olomi secretariat of the union. Attempts by the Alao-Akala’s administration to demolish the secretariat proved abortive as Tokyo’s men repelled the government’s demolition squad. But Alao-Akala, after losing his re-election bid, lifted ban on the activities of the union, an action many described as an attempt to set a booby trap for the incoming government of Senator Abiola Ajimobi.
The Ajimobi administration came on board and the union was still entangled in crisis. This time, it was between Tokyo and Eleweomo’s deputy, Mukaila Lamidi (a.k.a Auxilliary’). Tokyo was hell-bent on returning to his position but Auxilliary was not ready to accept him. They continued until five days after Governor Ajimobi was sworn in. That night, Iwo Road was a theatre of war. Many innocent people, including a final year Medical student of Ahmadu Bello University (ABU), Zaria, were killed.
End of violence in Oyo NURTW
Governor Abiola Ajimobi without waiting proscribed the union. The violence was against his agenda of peace. After the sad event of June 5, 2011, when many people were murdered during a fight between two factional members of the NURTW in Ibadan, Governor Ajimobi banned the activities of the union and he ensured that the two factional leaders were not allowed to operate again.
For over a year, the union had no leadership. Later, influential members of the society prevailed on the government to lift the ban as the members of the union were hungry and ready to have a change of heart.
•Oyerinde (Fele)
Later, Ahaji Taofeek Oyerinde (aka Fele) was presented by the stakeholders as the acceptable candidate to fill the vacant chairmanship slot.
Harvest of peace: the Fele years
The activities of the union have been peaceful since Fele was inaugurated over three years ago. The once-war torn Iwo Road is now peaceful. Today, apart from the beautification project by the state government; many firms now have offices located in Iwo Road.
Fele told Southwest Report that he warned them against being hired by politicians to foment trouble during the last election.
“We were able to maintain neutrality through various means. We sensitised our people on the implication of such deadly action. This is the first time election will hold in Oyo State and none of our members was killed. We behaved according to the dictates of the law.”
On how he got rid of paraga sellers from motor parks, he said: “We understand that reckless driving, most times, is due to the influence of hard substances. So, we sent away those selling the substances and warned them about the implications of smoking. Though we have not been able to achieve 100 per cent success, we’ve moved away from the age-long tradition. Now, you will see our members neatly dressed while they are not left out on the social media. We also encouraged them to cultivate the habit of saving money. Some of us are even back in school to further improve ourselves.”
Fele disclosed that as a means of giving back to the society, the union would embark on corporate social responsibility which included sinking of boreholes, patching of potholes and renovation of schools. All these, he said, are in line with the restoration agenda of Governor Ajimobi.
“Governor Ajimobi has always been a good inspiration for us. He would always counsel us and encourage us to improve ourselves. He would tell us the importance of seeing ourselves as one.”
The union recently distributed 40 cars to its branch offices across the 33 local government areas.
Continuing, Fele said: “Before now, guns, cutlasses and other dangerous weapons were procured with the union’s daily income and same were distributed to motor parks to unleash violence on rival union members and hapless citizens. Scores of innocent citizens of the state and visitors have been killed, a development that peaked in 2011 culminating in the killing of a medical student and others at Iwo Road Motor Park.
“We are borrowing a leaf from other organised associations to truly impact positively on the welfare of members. We would continue to pursue peace through prayers, deeds and actions capable of promoting peaceful co-existence among all union members.”
A Federal High Court, sitting in Ibadan, the Oyo State capital, yesterday declined jurisdiction in an application for the Enforcement of Fundamental Human Rights filed by the embattled State Chairman of the National Union of Road Transport Workers (NURTW), Alhaji Lateef Akinsola and 14 others against the governor, the commissioner of police and 16 others.
Akinsola and the others sued the defendants for allegedly disobeying the May 25, 2012, court judgment that declared him chairman of the union.
Yesterday, Justice Adejumo Obaseki said it would amount to judicial rascality for his court to assume jurisdiction over the case after receiving a copy of the notice of appeal against the May 25, 2012, judgment delivered by Justice Jonathan Sarkaho.
He ruled that although the applicants had the right to seek enforcement of their rights, especially since a competent court of law confirmed such rights, the lower court must stay action because the defendants appealed the judgment and a notice of the appeal was served on it (the lower).
Akinsola wants the court to jail the governor, police commissioner and the attorney-general for contempt of court for “abetting the constitution of a 14-man caretaker committee to run the NURTW’s affairs”.
He also wants the court to jail members of the caretaker committee for agreeing to manage the union’s affairs, despite the May 25, 2012 judgment.
SIR: Every reasonable observer of politics in Oyo State knew that the former chairman of the state’s chapter of the National Union of Road Transport Workers (NURTW), Alhaji Lateef Akinsola, a.k.a. Tokyo, was not going to go away quietly.
On Christmas Eve, NURTW national President, Alhaji Nojeem Yasin, came down to Ibadan from Abuja to administer the oath of office on the newly-elected 21-member administrative council led by Alhaji Taofeek Ayorinde., a.k.a. Fele. Fele had served, for the past six months as the chairman of the Caretaker Committee that Governor Abiola Ajimobi, upon the intervention of Yasin and others, instituted when he lifted the ban on the NURTW and allowed them to resume operation as a union.
More than anything else that Ajimobi may have accomplished so far, the mature manner in which he deflated the tires of the rampaging NURTW will rank near the top.
Why is Tokyo fighting tooth and nail, almost to the point of death, in order to remain chairman of the Oyo State NURTW? The perks accruable to the chairmen of the NURTW are impressive and could be the envy of an oil company CEO. Commercial operators (inter-state, intra-state, inter-city, or intra-city) pay “taxes” to these chairmen daily. These daily “taxes” can run into hundreds of thousands of naira for chairmen in states with large cities like Lagos, Oyo, and Kano.
What is more, these chairmen do not even have to leave home to collect the money. It is usually brought to them at home. The money, technically, is supposed to be dues contributed by members for the welfare of the union, its members (in case of family and personal emergencies), and the maintenance of its secretariat. However, a large chunk of that money goes to the Divisional Police Officer (DPO) of each area. The DPO, in return, directs his officers to look the other way when the drivers violate traffic laws. The chairmen also appropriate a substantial chunk of the money, for which they does not have to account.
Tokyo lived large as state chairman. He flew first-class to Abuja on a regular basis and stayed in 4-star hotels. His children attended (and still attend) private schools, including one at a private university. He maintained scores of Islamic clerics whose full-time job was to shield him from the law and from retaliations for his brutish acts. To hear Tokyo speak about the extent he would fight to regain the chairmanship, you would think the title was his family inheritance.
Under Alao-Akala, Tokyo became a larger-than-life figure in the PDP and in Alao-Akala’s cabinet. The triumvirate of Adedibu, Alao-Akala, and Tokyo used the NURTW thugs to foment all sorts of crises in the state.
Upon becoming governor, Ajimobi would not have any of that nonsense.
Had Tokyo been reinstated, his term would have ended last month; a convenient time for Yasin to organize an election during which Fele was elected as the substantive chairman of a new 21-member NURTW executive council in Oyo State. Fele will have three years to turn around that much-maligned union, sever it completely from politics, remove those ogogoro joints, build respectable toilets, build covered waiting halls and sheds for passengers, re-orientate the drivers about safety checks before embarking on each trip, and reinforce good customer service.
On good advice, he has returned to court, asking to be reinstated as chairman to complete his abbreviated term. It would have been something worth fighting for by all democracy-loving minds if he hadn’t been such a nuisance to the people of Oyo State. There are many things for which followers of government activities in Oyo State can blame Ajimobi, but on Tokyo, he deftly and successfully handled the situation.
