Oyo State Governor Seyi Makinde has dismissed the seven-day ultimatum issued to the State government by the South-West National Union of Road Transport Workers over the ban on the union’s activities and the introduction of the Park Management System in the state.
Speaking on Television Continental on Monday, the Chief Press Secretary to the Governor, Taiwo Adisa, said the NURTW members could not dictate to the state government since they were not regarded as stakeholders in the state.
Adisa said, “They are stakeholders in their different states; let them have dealings with their governors. The NURTW in Oyo State is banned and if they want to have any relationship with the Oyo State governor, they know the channel through which they can reach him.
“Before the governor’s inauguration, the story all over Oyo State was that the state would burn and that there would not be peace. People fled the state ahead of the inauguration; it was as if all hell would be let loose immediately Governor Seyi Makinde was sworn in because they said the NURTW would strike. That was the story all over the place.
“When Governor Seyi Makinde was inaugurated at Liberty Stadium, they clashed and the guests inside the stadium were hearing that some people were being attacked with machetes and that some people had sustained wounds. Before Governor Makinde read his speech, he had already got wind of it.”
On the new Park Management System, he said, “It is a unique policy that was inaugurated by the government. The story around the parks is always that local and state governments will set up parks and they will not get anything from them. It had been like that over the years and some people would stay as leaders of those parks and would be feeding fat on everybody.”
The CPS said there had been peace in the state since the government stopped the NURTW.
He said the ban on the transport union activities might be lifted if the unions could guarantee that the peace in the state would remain.
However, a representative of the union, Kayode Agbeyangi, said, ”The government placed a ban on our members in the state. One wonders why they did that. Up till now, no reason has been given by the governor.
“There was no crisis in the union; we lost our former chairman, Alhaji Taofeek Oyerinde. After his death, the headquarters of the union was in control of the union’s activities in Oyo State.
“Somebody is claiming he has worked for the governor and went to take over the administrative office of the union. We were not involved in the Park Management System introduced by the state government.”
