The President of the National Union of Road Transport Workers (NURTW), Tajudeen Baruwa, and 24 other members of the union were released by an Abuja Magistrate Court on Thursday, after they were secretly arraigned by the Nigerian police.
The police had arrested them on September 13, following a clash between factions of the union over the leadership crisis.
Newsflash Nigeria reports that Baruwa and the others were invited by the FCT Commissioner of Police, Haruna Garba, and later detained at the office of the disbanded Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS) in Guzape.
They were accused of being involved in the violent attack on the union’s secretariat by a rival faction led by Alhaji Musiliu Akinsanya (aka MC Oluomo), who is allegedly backed by the federal government.
However, on September 15, the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) condemned the arrest and detention of Baruwa and the others, and demanded their immediate release.
The NLC also criticized the police for taking sides with MC Oluomo’s faction, and for releasing Alhaji Tajudeen Badru Agbede, who was said to be the mastermind of the attack on the union’s secretariat.
The NURTW Acting President, Kabiru Minjibir, in a statement, accused the police of descending so low to take sides, after MC Oluomo’s faction had carried out a daylight coup d’état in the union. He said that Baruwa was the duly elected president of the union, and that his mandate was still valid until 2024.
On September 21, Baruwa and the others were granted bail by an Abuja Magistrate Court, after they were secretly taken to court by the police. According to SaharaReporters, a reliable source said that the police had hoped to remand them in prison custody, but they were finally granted bail.
The details of their arraignment and charges are still unclear, but the court adjourned the case till October 20, 2023.
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