Leadership Crisis Rocks Ile-Ife Tricycle Union

By Sodiq Lawal

A leadership crisis is currently rocking the Ile Ife Tricycle (Keke) Union as the Lagere and Ondo road units have dissociated themselves from the leadership of the union led by Prince Adeniyi Adelowo.

Scores of Tricycle workers who appealed for anonymity described Adelowo as a fraudster.

According to them, “As far as we are concerned the purported Exco was illegally constituted by the leadership of National Union of Road Transport Workers (NURTW) Ife branch, for selfish interest and does not represent the interest of Keke union, so we dissociate ourselves from it”

“We are not under the NURTW, they came last week with the intention of hijacking our park. They beat us to stupor, yet Prince Adelowo did not do anything, rather than smiling at them.

They alleged that he is not qualified to be the chairman of the union, being a non indigene, stressing that labour law forbids a non-indigene from leading a labour union.

They accused NURTW leadership of unnecessary interfering in matters that do not concern them, stressing that the law only empowers them to have control on bus drivers, adding that tricycle drivers and parks are not under their control or supervision.

All frantic efforts by our reporter to speak with the leadership of NURTW to confirm their level of interference, proved abortive, as the chairman of the union was always not in the office, while the Secretary declined comments, insisting that he was not in the right frame of mind to talk.