In Lagos State, a few branch chairmen of the National Union of Road Transport Workers (NURTW) have vehemently denounced attempts by Alhaji Najeem Yasin, the union’s former president, to use the union’s name in partisan politics in order to further his own personal agenda.

“The attention of well-meaning and concerned members of the union has been drawn to a news report in which a former president of the NURTW, Alhaji Najeem Yasin, was quoted as saying that he would mobilize members of the transport workers union to support the presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in 2023 presidential elections,” read the press release titled “A clarion call to save the NURTW from political wolves in sheep’s clothing,” which was jointly signed by All Progressives Congress (APC) presidential candidate in 2023.

The members distanced the union and its members from the mobilization plan, expressing dissatisfaction with the comments attributed to the former president.

“We are astonished beyond belief that Alhaji Yasin is discussing the mobilization of transportation workers during a period when thousands of them are unemployed and facing hunger, particularly in Lagos State.”

Aside from that, the participants said that the union and the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) have a working agreement that prohibits the NURTW as an organization from engaging in party politics.

It is documented that in 2015, while serving as the NURTW president, Alhaj Najeem Yasin signed an MOU with INEC on behalf of the union to arrange for the supply of election materials to specific locations around the nation. And part of the agreement as specified in the MOU is that the NURTW and its members must be apolitical (neutral) and the MOU still subsists.

“Once more, Alhaji Najeem Yasin is engaging in double-dealing when he rallies support for the APC candidate. Yasin is the founder of the Labour Party and the current deputy president of the NLC. In addition, he chairs the NLC/Labour Party (LP) mobilization committee. As a result, he is acting dishonestly and betraying the (NLC), his main constituency.

The former president was admonished by the worried members to cease exploiting the union’s name to curry favor.

The statement went on, “Alhaji Yasin should know how to go about getting any political appointment if he wants one without bringing the NURTW into partisan politics for his own personal gains.”
The members also urged Alhaji Tajudeen Ibikunle Baruwa, the union’s current president, to step up and order the outgoing president before further harm is done to the union’s name.