The National Industrial Court has nullified the Lagos State Government’s appointment of a Caretaker Committee, known as Parks and Garages Administrators.
The Court therefore reinstated the operations of the Road Transport Employers Association of Nigeria (RTEAN) in the state.
Justice Maureen Esowe made the declaration while delivering judgment in a suit by RTEAN against the State Government and other defendants.
RTEAN had dragged the Lagos State Government to court after it dissolved the Association, suspended its operations, and on April 6, 2022, appointed a 25-man Caretaker Committee, chaired by Musiliu Akinsanya, popularly known as MC Oluomo, as administrators of the Parks and Garages in the State.
The suit filed on its behalf by Elisha Kurah (SAN), had joined the State Governor, Attorney-General of the State, Special Adviser to the State Governor on Transportation, Commissioner of Police, Lagos State, and all the members of the Caretaker Committee as Defendants.
RTEAN had argued that a state cannot interfere in the affairs of a trade union registered under the Trade Unions Act of 2004. It further argued that the state cannot dissolve the union, contending that such matters were handled by the Federal Ministry of Labour and Employment.
But the State Government had countered the argument, pointing out that it did not violate the law nor dissolve the national body’s operations in the state, but had sought to maintain law and order by creating the ad-hoc committee when violence ensued between the unions.
In his ruling on Tuesday, Justice Esowe held that the act of Lagos State in suspending the National union’s operations in the state and setting up a caretaker committee was illegal and against the provisions of Sections 4 (1), (2) & (3), and 5 (1) & (3), read along with item 34 of the exclusive legislative list of the 1999 Constitution as amended.
The Court, therefore, restrained the Lagos State Government from further interfering with the operations of the union’s exco and ordered the police to refrain from intimidating the union’s officers, remove all barricades it imposed around their secretariat, and grant them unfettered access to their offices.
For record, the Members of the 25-man Caretaker Committee For Lagos Parks And Garages as announced on April 6, 2022, by the Lagos State Commissioner for Information and Strategy, Gbenga Omotosho, are:
1. Mr. Hakeem Odumosu (AIG Rtd) – Government Liaison Officer
2. Alh Musiliu Ayinde Akinsanya – Chairman
3. Alh Sulyman B. Ojora – (Deputy Chairman)
4. Dr. Taiwo Olufemi Salaam (Secretary)
5. Comrade Olayiwola Lemboye
6. Alh Mustapha Adekunle
7. Alh Ganiyu Shittu
8. Alh Mukaila Runsewe
9. Alh Sulyman Yusuf
10. Alh Mufutau Mutiu
11. Alh Yinka Hassan
12. Alh Sunday Ogunleye
13. Alh Moshood Omojowa
14. Alh Ismaila Aigoro
15. Alh Ibrahim Yusuf. O
16. Alh Akeem Tijani
17. Mrs Omolabake Adelakun
18. Comrade Kazeem Hassan
19. Alh Wasiu Amole
20. Alh Ganiyu Ayinde
21. Anthony Adeyinka Adeboye
22. John Victor Owolabi
23. Saburi Salami
24. Ibrahim Onitiju
25. Odusanya Gbenga
