MC Oluomo elected NURTW national president

The former Chairperson of the Lagos State Chapter of the National Union of Road Transport Workers, Musiliu Akinsanya, popularly known as MC Oluomo, has been elected the new National President of the union.

Mr Akinsanya was the sole candidate in the election, which took place at the union’s zonal secretariat in Osogbo on Saturday.

Punch Newspaper reported that delegates from four Southwest states of Lagos, Ogun, Ondo, and Ekiti participated in the election.

The election, held during the union’s quadrennial delegate conference, was said to be monitored and observed by the acting National President of the union, Aliyu Issa-Ore.

Mr Akinsanya’s election comes many months after he was dramatically stripped of his chairmanship of the Lagos chapter of the union.

Since his successor, Mustapha Adekunle, popularly known as Sego, took over as the chairperson of the state’s chapter, many of Mr Akinsanya’s old associates, including Ganiyu Oyedepo, popularly known as Kok Zaria, have ditched him.

Many Nigerians also took to social media to mock Mr Akinsanya, especially considering his open support for President Bola Tinubu and the ruling All Progressives Congress during the 2023 general elections.

Acting president speaks

Mr Issa-Ore, who the Head of Finance, Adedamola Salam, represented at the union’s National Headquarters in Abuja, Nigeria’s Federal Capital Territory, said NURTW’s constitution stipulates that the zone permitted to fill the national president’s position would elect its preferred candidate and present them to the national body.

He said since it is the turn of the Southwest zone to produce the national president, “it has fully complied with the constitution in electing Oluomo as President.”

Other officers

At the conference, another former chairperson of NURTW in Lagos and Mr Akinsanya’s immediate predecessor, Tajudeen Agbede, was elected as Vice President for the Southwest zone, while Akeem Adeosun was chosen as trustee from the zone.

The other zones are also expected to produce officers assigned to them in their separate elections but as of the time of filing this report PREMIUM TIMES could not confirm whether elections held in other zones or not.

MC speaks

Shortly after taking the oath of office, Mr Akinsanya, who was reportedly surrounded by his associates and family members, called for peace and pledged to work towards unity among members.

He said: “I have forgiven everyone who has offended me, and I hope those I have offended will forgive me as well.

“This is our union, and we must be committed to preserving it. We will not allow anyone to destroy our means of livelihood.”

(PREMIUM TIMES)