Tension as MC Oluomo, Baruwa fight for control of Lagos parks

Uneasy calm now pervades hundreds of parks in Lagos following last week’s bloody free-for-all, as the National Union of Road Transport Workers (NURTW) and the state’s Parks Management Committee jostle for control and supremacy.

Hooded supporters on both sides clashed at the Fagba area of the state, with the crisis spreading to the notorious Agege axis.

Controversial unionist, Mr. Musiliu Akinsanya, a.k.a. MC Oluomo, who was appointed the chairman of the Parks Management Committee by the state government, was said to be visiting when the area was thrown into crisis.

His media aide, Jimoh Buhari, claimed that his boss only went to visit a traditional ruler in the Fagba area and was not on a mission to displace members of the NURTW operating in parks and garages in the area.

READ ALSO: MC Oluomo to invade Lagos parks with thugs, TOOAN warns

“There is nothing like a forceful takeover of motor parks. No crisis broke out in Fagba when MC Oluomo went to visit a monarch in that area. Besides, Fagba is controlled by our people. Why would we attack our own people?

The national body of the union, last month, dissolved the Lagos chapter headed by Oluomo and replaced him with the state secretary, Seyi Bankole, pending the constitution of a caretaker committee.

Following Oluomo’s suspension by the national body of the union and subsequent dissolution of the executive body, the state government, too, suspended the activities of the union in the state and set up the committee, appointing the embattled unionist to lead it.

The national body of the union, headed by erstwhile Oluomo’s ally, Alhaji Ibikunle Baruwa, has insisted it had not stopped the Lagos chapter from operating and the members are still with the union.

After the Monday bloody face-off, it was learnt that another major crisis may be in the offing as the Oluomo committee prepares to take over all the garages and parks. Many union leaders in the state, who are holding strategic parks, are reportedly not willing to yield them.

Apart from the Meiran axis, which MC Oluomo’s aide said would be difficult to take away from the current operators, other areas have been identified as flashpoints in the ensuing crisis.

According to information sourced within the system, things had fallen apart between the Lagos council and the national body before the eventual removal of Oluomo.

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It was gathered that while the pro-Oluomo group is insisting that the state government had banned the operations of the NURTW, tricycle and motorcycles while the Baruwa group is claiming that the suspension only affects vehicles and not others.

READ ALSO: Lagos CP warns MC Oluomo, state NURTW against protest  

According to a source, shortly after MC Oluomo was appointed as the chairman of the Lagos State council of the NURTW, the relationship between him and his former ally, who had become his boss, turned sour as a result of the composition of the state executive.

“Oluomo had expected his boss to give him the freedom to choose all his loyalists, who were with him during the battle against Alhaji Tajudeen Agbede. Left for Oluomo, his trusted longtime friend, Adekunle Mustapha, popularly known as Tafa Sego, would have been his deputy but that was not to be as the Abuja power broker insisted on Sulaimon Ojora, popularly known as Ikudeleti.

He added: “What actually caused the protest was the rumour then that Alhaji Baruwa was planning to install Alhaji Azeez Abiola, a.k.a. Istijabah, as the chairman of TOOAN in the state. That was what MC Oluomo was trying to avoid. The people in Abuja had made up their mind that they were going to frustrate him with the tricycle issue, since they had been looking for an opportunity to get him.

It was gathered that while the pro-Baruwa group might be willing to surrender the activities of commercial vehicles to the Parks Management Committee, it is determined to cling to tricycle operation. The contention is that the state governor did not suspend commercial tricycle operation and therefore should not be controlled by the government committee.

Meanwhile, members of the NURTW who are loyal to the national president have insisted that they remain members of the union, contrary to the claim by Oluomo that the members of the union in Lagos State had pulled out and were no longer members.