Oyo NURTW boss denies abducting member

The Chairman, National Union of Road Transport Workers (NURTW), Oyo State branch, Alhaji Taofeek Oyerinde, popularly known as Fele, on Tuesday, denied alleged abduction of a member of the union, Musbaudeen Adeyemi, who was a former chairman of a local branch of the Tricycle Riders Association of the state.

Alhaji Oyerinde, in a telephone interview with reporters said, the report linking him to the said abduction of Musbaudeen last weekend was untrue and intended to dent his image as the union leader.

According to him, “Musbaudeen was my boy in the union and for his past activities as a vibrant officer, I made him a chairman of Tricycle branch, and he served his four-year term without any hindrance.

“But his colleagues claimed that they didn’t want him to run for another term and instead elected another officer. He was not satisfied with the development and ended up joining a rival union group under the Tricycle Owners Association of Nigeria, (TOAN).

“This latest disagreement he had with his colleagues stemmed from the fact that he still wanted to be using NURTW base to operate. They told him to go elsewhere and look for his own park. He was said to have stuck to his gun and that caused the friction between them.”

Reacting to the development, the state Police Public Relations Officer, SP Adekunle Ajisebutu, disclosed that the Commissioner of Police, Samuel Adegbuyi, on Monday summoned a peace meeting between the two warring parties.

He said both parties were warned against breakdown of law and order, adding that they were made to sign an undertaking.

Pandemonium had broken out on Monday at the state secretariat of Trade Union Congress (TUC) in Ibadan as members of TOAN,  protested an alleged kidnap of their state chairman, Comrade Adeyemi Musbaudeen.

‘’And as their boss, I told the two groups not to disturb public peace and I am happy that the police had waded in with a view to further cementing the peace moves I already started.

“This state is peaceful since my reign started few years ago and we shall continue to ensure that peace reigns everywhere in the state in line with the peace-loving stance of Governor Abiola Ajimobi.

“Whoever that is willing to disturb the prevailing peace here will have himself to blame. There is no iota of truth in the said report that the boy was abducted and rescued by the police in my residence. I challenge anyone with that fact to name the police officer who led the rescue operation,” Oyerinde stated.

Reacting to the development, the state Police Public Relations Officer, SP Adekunle Ajisebutu, disclosed that the Commissioner of Police, Samuel Adegbuyi, on Monday summoned a peace meeting between the two warring parties.

He said both parties were warned against breakdown of law and order in the state, adding that they were made to sign an undertaking before leaving the police headquarters at Eleyele.

Ajisebutu also noted that the two parties had been directed to return back to the command today.

Pandemonium had broken out on Monday at the state secretariat of Trade Union Congress (TUC) in Ibadan as members of TOAN, which is an affiliate of TUC, protested an alleged kidnap of their state chairman, Comrade Adeyemi Musbaudeen.

Musbaudeen had alleged that he was kidnapped on Sunday by members of Odua Peoples Congress (OPC) who took him to the house of Alhaji Fele and was later rescued by the police.

He said he was kidnapped and brutalised for operating an association which is not accredited by Fele, noting that the association had once dragged the matter to court and had been granted an injunction to operate as independent body.