Vice President of the National Union of Road Transport Workers (NURTW), Alhaji Tajudeen Agbede, has asked Alhaji Tajudeen Ibikunle Baruwa to start preparing his handover notes, as his term has expired.

Baruwa, President of the union, is seeking re-election but some South-West leaders of the group have passed a vote of no confidence in him following intractable leadership crisis affecting almost all the states in the region.

Agbede, who was recently endorsed by the South-West NURTW as its sole candidate for the position of union president, accused Baruwa of fueling the crisis among members in the region.

In his reaction to a statement credited to Baruwa that he (Agbede) had ceased to be a member of the union, Agbede said, “Baruwa administration has really wreaked havoc on the union to the extent that a vibrant and energetic union that was handed over to him in 2019 is now a shadow of itself.”

Clearing the air on the issue of membership, Agbede said, “On the allegation that I have joined the Lagos Park and Management Committee, I want to ask him if he saw my name on the list of Park Management Committee. My name is not on their list. I am a core NURTW member. In fact, I’m the National Vice President of the union.

“So the claim of my exiting/leaving the union at one point or the other is a lie. I remain a strong member of the union. I have paid my dues in the union.”

Agbede also stated that “It should be noted that the immediate past president of the union, Alhaji Najeem Usman Yasin, in 2019 handed over a complete and indivisible NURTW, operating in all the 36 states of the federation including Abuja, but due to Mr Baruwa’s lack of required management experience, the union started losing most of their state councils to Park and Garages Management committee set up by various state governments.

“Presently, our union is not operating in his (Baruwa) home state (Ogun). I expect him to have resigned but because of his selfish interest, he wants to stay put, even when people of his zone and state have lost confidence in his ability to lead.

“Again, one would have expected our parent body, Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) to intervene and reconcile the union with various state governments, NLC and other stakeholders intervention were rubbished by Baruwa and his sycophants deceiving him to stay on,” he added. (Nigerian Tribune)

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