NURTW Leaders Go Underground

Revelations about the mismanagement of more than N950 million BRT fund by the leadership of the Lagos chapter of the National Union of Road Transport Workers, NURTW, has caused a deep division and mistrust within the union to the extent that some leaders of the union have gone underground.

Following the revelations, the union is now sharply divided into two major camps. The first camp are the supporters of the Chairman of the union, Alhaji Rafiu Olohunwa, who are insisting that he must continue to direct the affairs of the union while the second camp are the supporters of the Treasurer of the union and the major controller of motor parks in Oshodi, Alhaji Musiliu Akinsanya, a.k.a. MC Oluomo, who are insisting that Olohunwa should be removed and a caretaker body set up to manage the affairs of the union..

The air of suspicion and mistrust is so grave now that chairmen and secretaries of various motor parks being controlled by NURTW in the state now watch their backs for fear of being attacked by their opponents.

P.M.NEWS investigations in some major parks in the metropolis revealed that the mistrust has led to many of the leaders abandoning their duty posts for secret locations unknown to their opponents. Some of them now move around with heavily armed thugs to ward off attacks from their rivals.

An aide of Olohunwa who spoke with P.M.NEWS on condition of anonymity yesterday at the Super Bus Stop, Abule Egba secretariat of Lagos NURTW said things are no longer at ease in the union as everybody is now watching his back to prevent the fate that befell the former Chairman of the union, Alhaji Saula Saka, who was gruesomely murdered at his Iyana Ipaja residence by unidentified gunmen following intra-union leadership crisis.

Efforts by P.M.NEWS to locate Olohunwa and Akinsanya yesterday to get their comments on the crisis rocking the union proved abortive as they could not be found in all their identified offices at Oshodi, Adekunle (Yaba) and Abule Egba.

The two NURTW chieftains also refused to pick their calls. They also failed to respond to text messages sent to them.

Our correspondent who rushed to a filling station near Campos Square, Lagos Island where Olohunwa was sighted yesterday was dissappointed when he was told that the ‘Up National’ boss has moved to his office at Abule Egba. On getting to Abule Egba, the story was the same as the embattled NURTW boss refused to show up.

“My brother, these are not normal times in NURTW. Everybody is watching his back because of the wahala in the union,” a source at the secretariat told P.M.NEWS.

When asked what happened at the last meeting of the union in the secretariat, he absolved Olohunwa and blamed supporters of MC Oluomo for disrupting the meeting.

“All the allegations they levelled against Olohunwa are bundle of lies. They want to take his position, that’s why they are concocting different lies. At our last meeting, thugs from Oshodi came to disrupt it. If you see them, they are all hooligans. They came purposely to scatter the meeting. They were led by Oluomo himself,” he alleged.

Investigations revealed further that since the current crisis broke out, there have been various attacks on perceived supporters of the major actors.

For instance a close ally of MC Oluomo, Alhaji Mukaila Balogun, a.k.a. Capone or Okanlawon was attacked on Sunday by thugs posing as policemen at Mushin. He was brutalised and his father’s house in Mushin also vandalised. His SUV was also vandalised.

—Lanre Babalola