The Commissioner for Transport in Ondo State, Mr. Nicholas Tofowomo has been accused by the leadership of the Road Transport Employers Association of Nigeria (RTEAN) of leading some National Union of Road Transport Workers (NURTW) hoodlums to their packs to attack their members.
RTEAN, who claimed the incident occurred Tuesday evening in Akure, said many of their members were wonded and their vehicles damaged.
They alleged that the NURTW waged a war on them just because they do not want them to operate in the packs, even when the constitution gave them the legal right to do so.
The state chairman of RTEAN, Mr. Williams Adepoju who spoke with DAILY POST on Thursday alleged that Tofowomo had always favoured the rival NURTW in all his transportation policies and was allegedly seeking ways to frustrate the RTEAN in the state.
He narrated that on the fateful day, the commissioner led some leaders of the state NURTW and some suspected thugs to some parks on Adesida road and allegedly ordered them (thugs) to destroy the vehicles that belonged to RTEAN members only.
He said, ” On Friday, we wrote to the security agents and the state government that NURTW wanted to attack us but they did not do anything. What we saw on Tuesday night was that Tofowomo came to our parks in Akure and Ondo at about 11pm in company of some NURTW leaders in the state and thugs. He said we don’t have the right to be operating in the town.
” It was in his presence that the NURTW thugs started matcheting our members, destroying their vehicles, but we are law abiding and we don’t want to fight back, that is why we are calling on the state governor, Dr. Olusegun Mimiko to call Tofowomo to order. He should allow us to operate, there is a freedom of association in Nigeria, our members have the choice under the law not to join the NURTW, it is not compulsory to be members of the NURTW. ”
All effort to reach the Commissioner proved abortive as he did not pick his calls and text message sent to him by our correspondent was not replied to at the time of this report.
However, the state chairman of the NURTW, Mr. Ariyo Adetula has denied the allegation, saying the RTEAN was raising false allegation against the NURTW and that there was no fight between the two groups.
He said, ” All they are saying are lies, the government has given both of us our parks, so there is no fight between us. “
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