10th August, 2010
At least 39 members of the prescribed National Union of Road Transport Workers, NURTW, Oyo State branch, arrested in connection with the crisis in the union will be charged to court today.
The Oyo State Commissioner of Police, Alhaji Adisa Baba Bolanta disclosed this to P.M.NEWS in his office in Ibadan.
According to him, 15 suspects were arrested last Saturday during a fracas that erupted between the loyalists of the Chairman of Oyo State NURTW, Alhaji Lateef Akinsola a.k.a Tokyo and those in support of Lateef Salako a.k.a. Eleweomo.
Bolanta stated that the remaining 24 suspects were arrested yesterday.
The police boss said that the 39 suspects were in the custody of the state CID, Iyaganku, Ibadan, adding that the arrested suspects were from the two factions of the union.
Commenting on the ban on the union, the CP said that he had forwarded the proscription order given to him by the Oyo State Attorney-General and Commissioner for Justice, Abdulsalam ‘Ladi Abdullah to the Legal Department, Police Headquarters, Abuja for advice, adding that the command is awaiting the advice to know what to do.
“On the banning of NURTW, I am waiting for a directive from Abuja. Whatever they ask me to do is what I will do. As at today, maximum security is provided at the secretariat of NURTW and in the state to foil any crisis that anybody will want to cause,†Bolanta stated.
He, however, appealed to the members of the union to conduct themselves in a peaceful and lawful manner, stressing that any aggrieved member of the union should take legal action to achieve his or her aim.
Bolanta debunked the allegation levelled against the command by Tokyo, saying that the command did not hesitate in assisting Tokyo to resume in his office.
According to him, he has to wait for the advice of the legal department from Abuja before taking action, adding that as soon as he was advised to ensure that Tokyo resumed in office, the command acted accordingly.
“Immediately we got the signal, we swung into action. That was why we provided policemen for Tokyo to resume last Saturday. We ensured that he resumed last Saturday,†he said.
Meanwhile, in line with the directive of Governor Adebayo Alao-Akala, all the 33 local government chairmen have appointed committees that will be managing all the motor parks pending when NURTW will be unbanned.
The committees have sent their officials to collect money from the commuter vehicle drivers.
Security has been beefed up in all parts of the state with armoured personnel carriers deployed to strategic locations in the city.
As at the time of filing this report, Tokyo has relocated from his house at Akobo to Olomi Area.
This information was revealed to our correspondent last night when our correspondent visited his Akobo residence to chat with him.
His aides stated that the relocation became necessary for security reasons.
—Gbenro Adesina/Ibadan