By JOHNSON EBIGIDE
Operatives from the Force Headquarters of the Nigerian Police in Abuja have swung into action by arresting those suspected to be flouting the court judgement which declared the involvement of a committee set up by the state Ministry of Transport and any other bodies in the affairs of the National Union of Road Transport Workers (NURTW) illegal, null and void in Delta State.
The state chapter of the NURTW had dragged the governing council of the Delta State Management Committee on Public Motor Park and Land Transportation to the High Court in Asaba, the state capital, challenging its setting up, allegedly by the state commissioner for Transport.
The case with suit no: A/14/2020 had Tony Kanayo (for himself and on behalf of the members of NURTW Oshimili South “A” branch, Asaba, as Claimants while the State Commissioner for Transport, Delta State, Attorney General and Commissioner for Justice, Delta State, Governor of Delta State, Chief Francis Arhiyor (for himself and on behalf of the members of Delta State Management Committee on Public Motor Park and Land Transportation, and Commissioner of Police, Delta State as defendants.
The Presiding Judge, Justice D C. Maidoh, while delivering the judgement, dissolved the constituted management committee, stating that the 1st defendant with regard to the provisions of section 2,3,7(1),(5) & 4th schedule to the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999 (as amended) and sections 4(3)& 41(e) of the Delta State Local Government Law, 2013, acted unconstitutionally, unlawfully and without jurisdiction in setting up or constituting the Delta State Management Committee on Public Motor Parks.
The Court also declared the Management Committee as illegal, null and void, while directing the defendants to stop interfering with the activities of the claimants, including the issuing and selling of National Union of Road Transport Workers tickets and collection of dues from members of the union in the state.
However, problems seem not to be over with the troubled union as the breakaway faction, Up Delta, had disregarded the court ruling, holding on firmly to the status quo ante by refusing to vacate the motor parks and stop issuing and selling of tickets and collecting dues from members of the union as directed by the court of judicial competence in the state.
A disturbing angle to the story is the alleged arrest by the police in the state of members of the mainstream NURTW, who acting on the court judgement, had gone ahead to carry out their constitutional duties at the parks in the state, just as some others have been attacked at the parks by suspected members of the dissolved Up Delta.
Reports have it that strongly worded petition was forwarded to the force headquarters in Abuja, resulting in the present haunting for the alleged defaulters of the court judgement and their accomplices in the state.
It was reported that one Comrade Amechi, who is said to be the Vice Chairman of the disbanded Up Delta, was arrested in Agbor in Ika South Local Government Area of the state and immediately whisked away to Abuja, while others who got wind of the situation immediately went underground to forestall their being arrested too.
However, there was an indication that all the parties involved have been invited to the force headquarters in Abuja for a possible resolution of the unending imbroglio in the state.