BY DAUD OLATUNJI

ABEOKUTA- Governor Ibikunle Amosun of Ogun State, Wednesday, ordered the arrest of all the masterminds of the recent violence among members of National Union of Road Transport Workers, NURTW, in Ijebu-Ode Local Government Area of the state. The wanted union leaders were engaged in a supremacy battle.

The governor announced the suspension of the activities of all unions operating in the five garages within the local government area, which include; Lagos, Epe, Ibadan, Obalende motor parks and Olabisi Onabanjo Market.

According to the state Commissioner for Information and Strategy, Yusuph Olaniyonu, the suspension was with immediate effect and it affected both the NURTW and Road Transport Employees Association of Nigeria, RTEAN, in the area.

The two unions have been reported to have engaged in bloody fights over supremacy and control of motor parks in the area, which led to loss of lives, while property worth millions of naira were destroyed.

According to Olaniyonu “the government has also ordered that all leaders of the unions who have been fingered as masterminds of the raging crises be arrested by the police and fully interrogated to determine their culpability or otherwise.

“Those found to have contributed in any way to the blood-letting in the area will be charged to court. The General Manager, Ogun State Parks and Garages, Alhaji Ayo Ogunsolu and Chairman, Transition Committee of Ijebu-Ode council area, Alhaji Raheem Sarumi have been directed to constitute a task force that would administer the garages until normalcy is fully restored.”

Governor Amosun was reported to have visited the scene of the crisis yesterday where he directed the state Police Commissioner, Mr. Nicholas Nkemdem to ensure that the Eid-el-Kabir is observed peacefully.

Meantime, No fewer than, 30 pupils of Trinity Foundation School, Ofada, Ogun State, yesterday, escaped death in an accident which involved four vehicles, near NNPC mega station, Kuto, along governor’s office, Oke-Mosan, Abeokuta, leaving three people seriously injured.

The three people, who include two pupils of the School and a commuter, who was yet to be identified, sustained serious injuries and were immediately rushed to the hospital.

Giving an account of the incident, one Aguda Joseph, who identified himself as one of the teachers of the School that drove one of the vehicles, said he could not explain how the accident happened, adding that the four vehicles were not on high speed.

Aguda said the school was on an excursion tour to Ogun State Television, before the incident happened.