Fresh Crisis Brews As NURTW Seeks To Takeover Osun Park Management Secretariat

FACTS have emerged on the real cause of the unrest that happened on Tuesday evening when factions of the Osun Transport Management System (OSTMS), engaged each other in a supremacy battle.

The development, OSUN DEFENDER gathered threw residents of the Ilesa Garage area of Osogbo, into a panic. 

It was gathered that the crisis was an offshoot of the ongoing crisis within the rank and file of the transport management union. 

Findings by OSUN DEFENDER revealed that some members of the OSTMS who have been disenchanted with the leadership of the Chairman, Mr. Nurudeen Wakili popularly known as Alowonle have been finding an opportunity to register their displeasure and compel the state government to remove him.

Sources told the medium that some officials of the proscribed National Union of Road Transport Workers (NURTW), which metamorphosed to the OSTMS in November 2022 are displeased with the composition of the branch chairmen and unit heads across the state.

They alleged that some individuals appointed as branch chairmen are not original members of the defunct NURTW in the state, and have not been following the guidelines of the transport system.

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Further investigations by OSUN DEFENDER revealed that moves by some of the erstwhile members of the NURTW who are laying claim to the ownership of the offices used by the OSTMS are also tied to the crisis that erupted on Tuesday.

Resident and shop owners at Ayepe, Sadiat, Ilesa Garage, and Fadilulahi areas were reported to have scampered for safety as hoodlums shot sporadically into the air around the state secretariat of the group.

The medium gathered that a faction led by the Deputy Chairman (Operations) of the OSTMS, Wasiu Arogundade, invaded and temporarily took over the state secretariat of the union for a few hours.

But the main group, led by the chairman of the union, Nurudeen Wakili popularly called Alowonle mobilised to take back the office after an exchange of gunshots.

The sources said, “There are different issues around the pandemonium that happened on Tuesday. First, some branch chairmen appointed by the state government under Alowonle are neither transport workers nor some of us who are former NURTW members. The individuals according to our findings are either political machineries of the state government compensated with those appointments.

“Secondly, the offices used by the OSTMS are for the NURTW. The union was the one paying for the offices and financing its running and therefore owns where Alowonle and the branch chairmen are using. Now, some of the displaced NURTW executives are going through the backdoor to use the crisis to take back their offices. 

“If they succeed, it will return the leadership of Asiri Eniba and others to the OSTMS which the Alowonle group and the state government do not want to happen. Alowonle is also alleged to have mismanaged the funds of the union. A lot of the stakeholders are not happy with the way they are being taken care of. These are the main issues.”

Speaking with journalists,  Arogundade accused the OSTMS Chairman of extortion and high-handedness.

He said, “Alowonle used the name of Governor Ademola Adeleke and his elder sister, Yeye Dupe Adeleke-Sanni to extort us. During the burial of Yeye Dupe’s husband, we contributed N1.6 million and during the governor’s chieftaincy title, he collected N150,000 from each branch.”

Reacting, Wakili, who sustained several cutlass wounds, disclosed that the allegations against him were all lies.

He noted that the aggrieved group were dissatisfied with his decision not to return the transport management system to the National Union of Road Transport Workers (NURTW), where their allegiance belongs.

“It is simply impossible to collect money for Yeye Dupe’s husband’s burial or Governor Adeleke’s chieftaincy conferment when they were not members of the transport union. They should disclose who collected the money from the branches. Branch chairmen are still alive they can speak about it as well. If they were protesting those issues why the attack on me? They attempted to kill me and we handed over one of those who attacked me to the police for investigation.

“Their claim is simply an attempt to bring back NURTW with a view to antagonising the Adeleke’s administration in the state”, he added.

Reacting to the development, Governor Ademola Adeleke in a statement by his spokesperson, Olawale Rasheed, on Wednesday, directed the Commissioner for Transportation to convey a reconciliatory meeting between all warring factions.

Adeleke also warned transport workers in Osun State against actions and activities capable of plunging the state into violence and lawlessness.

The statement said, “The officials and their members should desist from distracting Osun people from many ongoing laudable projects and delivery of good governance. 

“This administration will not condone lawlessness and acts of violence. We must not and can not afford to return to the era of the previous administration. Our government has zero tolerance for violence.

“Any issue within the transport management should be resolved in line with due process.  Internally Generated Revenue in Osun State is strictly regulated within a framework of accountability and transparency that can not be breached.

“Our government has automated revenue collection while integrating multiple revenue points into a single billing process. Our IGR has increased as a consequence of our innovations and zero tolerance for revenue leakages. Diversion of revenue is a thing of the past in Osun State.”