On Monday morning, residents and commuters at Iwo-road in Ibadan had no choice but to run helter-skelter as another fight broke out between commercial vehicle drivers in the state.
The chairman of the suspended NURTW in the state, Alhaji Abideen Olajide, confirmed the incident in an interview with BBC Yoruba.
He, however, explained that the NURTW was not involved in the fight.
In his words, “NURTW members were not involved in the fight because we are united. In fact, our vehicles are not in the garage anymore but it is those the state government appointed to head the car parks that were involved in the fracas.
“It is the chairman of the Park Management Committee, Alhaji Mukaila Auxiliary that has been causing violence in various parts of the state and since we know this we have maintained decorum.”
Ejiogbe, as the suspended NURTW chairman is fondly known, added that the fight is not between Auxiliary and NURTW but between Auxiliary and some people who Auxiliary claim betrayed him.
“Since Auxiliary started disturbing the peaceful atmosphere in the state, we have reported him to the state government on a number of occasions but they claim we are telling lies. In fact, a lot of allegations leveled against him have been lodged in police stations but I don’t want to talk about them,” Ejiogbe said.
Similarly, Lekan Aleshinloye, the assistant secretary of the ‘suspended’ NURTW, while discussing with BBC Yoruba on the fracas, also said that members of the union were not involved in the fight, adding that they have left the parks almost a year ago.
He said, “if you hear about any fight in any park since July last year, we are not the one because we have left the park.
“It is Auxiliary and his boys that have been fighting themselves. In fact, this morning we received various calls from people that there is another fight ongoing at Iwo road when we called our people who live in that axis, they informed us that it is Auxiliary who came to deal with one of his boys, who they seriously injured and took to an undisclosed location.”
While explaining why NURTW members had to leave the park, he said, “we had to leave when they (Auxiliary and his boys) were destroying our vehicles, we had no choice but to leave. Various attempts to plead with the governor to lift the ban placed on our association have proved futile, in fact, the National Chairman had visited him twice but the governor was only deceiving him.”
He, however, added that the association had taken the case to court.
When BBC Yoruba contacted the PPRO of the Oyo State Police Command, Mr. Olugbenga Fadeyi, he claimed there was no fracas or commotion at Iwo road on Monday morning.
He added that there are various police officers patrolling the area, the entire Ibadan and other parts of the state.
