Osun govt affirms Alowonle as NURTW chairman, orders removal of Asiri Eniba from motor parks

By Sunday Oguntuyi, Osogbo

The Osun State Government has reaffirmed that Comrade Wakeel Nurudeen Alowonle remains the substantive chairman of the National Union of Road Transport Workers (NURTW) in the state, clarifying that Governor Ademola Adeleke did not dissolve the union’s leadership or remove any duly appointed officials.

The clarification was contained in a statement issued on Friday by the Commissioner for Information and Public Enlightenment, Kolapo Alimi.

According to the statement, Alowonle and members of his executive were duly appointed by the national leadership of the NURTW under its president, Alhaji Musiliu Akinsanya (MC Oluomo), in line with the union’s constitution and guidelines.

The government stressed that there is no vacuum in the leadership of the union.

“The attention of the Osun State Government has been drawn to the misinterpretation and misrepresentation of the outcome of the Security Council meeting held yesterday, where the government suspended all NURTW activities in motor parks across the state because of the activities of some hoodlums led by a notorious thug, Kazeen Oyewale, popularly known as Asiri Eniba,” the statement said.

It noted that some individuals had wrongly interpreted the suspension of union activities to mean that the governor had dissolved the Alowonle-led executive, thereby creating a vacuum for the inauguration of a caretaker committee allegedly headed by Asiri Eniba.

“The state government wishes to state categorically that at no time did it dissolve the NURTW executives at any level. The directive of the Security Council was only to suspend the activities of the union in all motor parks pending the restoration of peace and order,” the statement added.

The government also clarified that Governor Adeleke had directed that the motor parks should remain open despite the suspension of union activities.

It reiterated that the Alowonle-led executive remains the only leadership recognised by both the national leadership of the NURTW and the Osun State Government.

The statement further directed security agencies to remove Asiri Eniba and members of his group from all motor parks across the state, insisting that they have no legal authority to operate there.

The government expressed confidence that once normalcy is fully restored, the Alowonle-led NURTW executive would resume its activities across the state without any hindrance.