By Ola Ajayi
From time immemorial, the National Union of Road Transport Workers, NURTW in the South-West has been a ready made tool in the hands of selfish and win-at-all-cost politicians who know that free and fair election can never give them victory.

Any time there is political violence, it will be very strange if members of the union are not involved. Due to their willingness to cause mayhem, any government in power use all means to win them to its side. Of course, any time they cause civil disobedience, since they have government backing, the usually long hands of the law become short to bring them to book.

Tokyo and Akala

Just last week, the fragile peace in Ibadan, the Oyo State capital was ruptured during  the local government congress of the Peoples Democratic Party which culminated in the killing of a factional chairman of the  National Union of Road Transport Workers, NURTW  in the state, Alhaji Lateef Salako.

Before the unfortunate killing of the union leader, there had been several cases when both factions in the union clashed leaving behind heavy casualties.

Only God knows if any attempts had been made to prosecute any of the union members arrested during such melee.

If the country had attached much importance to the sanctity of human life and waded in at the right time, perhaps, the self-induced killing of Eleweomo could have been avoided.

In an earlier rally of the Peoples’ Democratic Party, PDP, at Mapo Hall, Ibadan, some members of the union and a lawmaker were arrested by the police for being in possession of arms and ammunition.

Unfortunately, like other events, stakeholders in our security system don’t seem to have much interest in prevention of violence but they take delight in applying fire brigade approach after the damage might
have been done. Of what use is it, if, after a knife has cut a finger, we now throw the knife away. Has the knife not done the damage?

During the 2007 elections, many of them were caught red-handed by the then General Officer Commanding 2 division, Nigerian Army, Maj. Gen. Mohammed Saleh in Lagelu Local Government and other areas stealing and replacing ballot boxes at polling booths.

In fact, In Kiire Village, the then GOC got them arrested with their buses. They were arraigned but the court somehow left them unpunished.

Before the death of Alhaji Lateef Salako, a.k.a Eleweomo, he admitted, while speaking with Vanguard in an interview that the union had been hijacked by politicians even though he refused to accept the fact that all the crises bedeviling the union would not have arisen if Governor Adebayo Alao-Akala and the State Police had been neutral.

He said, the hijacking of the union dated back to the reign of AlhajiI Lamidi Adesina when the going was good between him and Alhaji Lateef Akinsola, a.k.a Tokyo.  He alleged that it was Tokyo that sold them to the government completely.

This may not be true after all as some political observers say that the hooliganism of the union actually started in 1983 when Busari Adelakun a.k.a  Eruobodo held sway.

But, the infiltration of the union in political matters had not assumed dangerous dimension as it is now in the administration of Adesina.

Before the death of the late Ibadan popular politician, Alhaji Lamidi Adedibu, it was a glaring fact that members of the union had lost their focus. Some of them even erroneously say they were indispensable
during election.

You see them saying in the open that they were the ones responsible for the victory of the party in the 2007 poll.

The union does not render its services free, the government they serve often oil and grease their palms with car gifts which they call loans.

One wonders when and how they pay back these loans. As a result of their ‘help’, the government has to ensure that the chairman to be elected is its right hand man.

Before last Thursday’s killing, the union had been engulfed in crisis with many indications that the Otunba Adebayo Alao-Akala led administration was the drummer behind the curtains while the feuding
factions engage in tango dance.

Many people believe that the governor is victimizing Tokyo because he had stopped being a ‘nice’ man to the governor.

Before things fell apart, they were Siamese twins that are inseparable. When Tokyo was found to be working at cross purposes to the second term bid of the governor, he was discarded like pack of cards.

While speaking with Vanguard, Senator Lekan Balogun had warned several times on the need to bring culprits to book so that lawlessness would not continue.

While speaking in his Alarere residence, he said, though he was sorry for the family of the late Salako as well as the violent death he was made to experience, he alleged that the Oyo State Police Commissioner should be held responsible for embolding him and his gang all along despite the repeated warnings of some of them.

He said, “We have been insisting that violence never pays, but rather than our Police boss listening to the voice of reason, he kept on in his partisanship approach to the issue of security in the state and
the result was commission of crime with impunity by some members of the NURTW part of which was Eleweomo’’.

He noted further that “As much as no reasonable person would condemn the Police for making efforts to unravel the killers of Salako and, which, in anyway, gladdens one’s heart, in doing so, the collective
sensibility of the rest of Nigerians should not be insulted.

He stressed that all what the Police had been trying to do was suggestive of acting the script of the governor, and that if the state Police Command had been all that efficient, the 24 suspects including
one of the lawmakers in Oyo State House of Assembly arrested for arms and ammunition possession during the last Mapo rally should by now be in court.

To him, the death of Eleweomo is one death among several others before it and if the CP had been alive to his responsibilities as earlier said, it could have been averted and what is more, unless he changes his style, it is as if all of us are not safe in the state.

He warned that except the CP is transferred, there would still be more violence in the state. “When a government decides to be lawless, the CP is not expected to collaborate with such government,” he stated.

But, Bolanta had earlier washed his hands clean. While maintaining that the politician was not his employer and was not in the position to redeploy him, he denied all allegations that the police had
connived with the state government.

At different times, he had invited the two gladiators-Tokyo and Eleweomo to his office. While Eleweomo, probably enjoying the state cover, had honoured the invitation, Tokyo had ignored it saying he would want the issue to be handled by the Inspector General of Police himself. He said he had lost confidence in the CP.

He had alleged that the police and the State Government had finalized plans to assassinate him and he would be a fool to sheepishly offer himself to his perceived enemies. Since then, he had gone underground.

In the recent melee that claimed the life of Eleweomo, he was not even mentioned.

Asked why the government decided to proscribe the union, the Commissioner for  Lands  and Survey, Alhaji Moshood ]Oyebamiji said, “everything is done in the interest of peace and tranquility in the
state.

If two of your children are fighting and one elderly man comes and says…….unnhh. You mean everything would just die down like that.

We should not be foolish. If anything happens, people would be pointing accusing finger on the government if it did not act on time.

With the death of Eleweomo, tension has gripped the whole city. When bangers(knockouts) are fired, many people shiver thinking the supporters of Eleweomo are on revenge mission.

At his burial on Saturday, his supporters were seen crying uncontrollably. They rained curses on the killers of their mentor vowing that those who kill a vulture never last a year. The death of Eleweomo became more pathetic with his 58th birthday ceremony and house warming which he could not live to celebrate.

The State Security Service(SSS) has been excellent in checkmating the crises. It has foiled many attacks due to its vigilance and prompt response to distress calls. Vanguard gathered that it had invited the two factions and warned them to desist from violence.

Also, the intelligence reports of the men of the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps have been of tremendous value. But, the question remains, when these agencies write their reports on the true status of the crises, are the reports being acted upon.

It is no gainsaying that more still need to be done by the security in the state. With the elections just three months ahead, the Federal Government should try and find a lasting solution to the crises.

The FG needs to warn politicians in the state especially members of the PDP to allow peace to reign. The crisis in the party could be blamed for these hydra-headed crises in the union.

If the union still remains subservient to the government of the day, hoping to have a free and fair election in the state would be a mere fantasy. The last has not been heard.