There were skirmishes in some parts of Abuja, Nigeria’s capital along the Sapele Crescent, off Ladoke Akintola Boulevard in Garki II by some factional members of the National Union of Road Transport Workers (NURTW) on Tuesday.
According to reports, gunshots were heard during the clash between supporters of NURTW President, Prof. Tajudeen Ibikunle Baruwa and the Lagos Park Management Committee led by Tajudeen Badru Agbede.
It was gathered that the Prof. Baruwa led faction marched towards the union’s national headquarters occupied by the LASPARK leader, Agbede and in the process, fight broke out between the two groups.
The clash was said to have been caused lingering crisis in the union which observers say requires urgent intervention to prevent further breakdown of law and order.
“As you may be aware, members of the Lagos Park Management Committee, led by Agbede, forcefully occupied the Secretariat a few weeks ago, displacing the president and other executives
“Therefore, supporters of the current president mobilized themselves in an effort to forcibly remove Agbede and his group.
“However, they were met by a police blockade which resulted in a violent confrontation. Shots were fired, intensifying the gravity of the crisis,” an eyewitness disclosed to Vanguard.
It was gathered that Baruwa had been seeking intervention from the police and the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) to resolve the situation, without success.
“We shall henceforth not hesitate to defend our mandate with the last drop of our blood,” Baruwa had earlier vowed, accusing former NURTW leaders of illegally occupying the National Secretariat of the union.
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He accused the former president of the union, Alhaji Najeem Usman Yasin, and Agbede, the former National Vice President, of holding illegal meetings with selected past leaders of the union.
In a further development, Baruwa alleged that the police seem to favour the Lagos Park Management Committee.
Therefore, he called on the Inspector General of Police (IGP) Olukayode Egbetokun and Director General of the Department of State Services (DSS), Yusuf Magaji Bichi, to intervene in the matter.
He stressed that only a court of competent jurisdiction can invalidate their mandate, and encouraged aggrieved members to follow due process and seek legal redress, warning that anything short of this could lead to anarchy.
