Appeal Court Restores Drivers’ Union Operation In Oyo

The Court of Appeal, Ibadan Division, Oyo State, has restored the cognition of the National Union of Road Transport Workers (NURTW) successful Oyo State, arsenic the tribunal declared the enactment taken by Governor Seyi Makinde successful 2019, proscribing the union, arsenic unlawful.

On May 31, 2019, Makinde proscribed the NURTW’s activities successful the state, citing a breach of bid and announcing the authorities government’s contiguous takeover of each centrifugal parks.

Challenging the move, the national filed a suit astatine the National Industrial Court of Nigeria (NICN) connected July 19, 2021, seeking to nullify the governor’s order. However, the little tribunal dismissed the suit connected March 23, 2022, stating it lacked merit.

Dissatisfied with the judgment, the NURTW filed an entreaty connected April 22, 2022, arguing that the authorities authorities lacked the ineligible authorization to suspend the operations of a commercialized national registered nether the Trade Union Act, CAP T14, Laws of the Federation of Nigeria.

The union’s counsel, Mr. Femi Falana SAN raised 2 issues for determination which are: Whether the little court’s failure/ neglect to consider, resoluteness and pronounce successful each matters legitimately raised and canvassed by the appellant’s counsel not juncture a miscarriage of justness connected the union; whether the enforcement politician of Oyo State oregon his agents are vested with the powerfulness to proscribe oregon suspend the cognition of NURTW successful the authorities which is simply a commercialized national registered nether Trade Union Act CAP T14 Law of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.
The union’s counsel argued that it is trite that a tribunal renders a determination connected each contented raised adequately earlier it. The appellant argued that the proceedings tribunal erred successful instrumentality successful reaching its determination without considering the case’s merit, successful enactment with an objection raised by the national against the authorities government’s counter-affidavit.

While the Attorney-General of Oyo State, Mr Abiodun Aikomo, argued that NURTW’s suspension resulted from a breakdown of instrumentality and order, the union’s counsel countered by submitting that determination was nary grounds of specified a breakdown.

Mr Falana besides questioned Governor Makinde’s ineligible powerfulness to suspend the NURTW, arsenic each commercialized unions are included successful the exclusive legislative database of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999 arsenic amended.

In its pb judgment, delivered by Justice Kenneth Ikechukwu Amadi, the three-man sheet ruled that the Oyo State Government failed to supply grounds of immoderate breach of bid oregon nationalist bid that would warrant the suspension of the union’s activities.

“Nowhere successful the antagonistic affidavit filed by the respondents astatine the little tribunal did they aver that the appellant’s behaviour warranted a suspension connected the grounds of breach of peace, law, and order.

“I, therefore, clasp that the respondents failed to warrant suspending the appellant’s activities based connected the breach of peace, instrumentality and bid successful Oyo State caused by the union. I let this entreaty and acceptable speech the suspension of NURTW operations successful Oyo State. I besides acceptable speech the little court’s judgment”, Justice Amadi held.

Justice Biobele Abraham Georgewill, concurring with the pb judgment, criticised the authorities government’s handling of the matter.

He emphasised that portion the authorities has the authorization to support instrumentality and order, it indispensable bash truthful wrong the confines of the law.

In his ruling, helium held: ” In the starring judgment, it has been demonstrated that the respondents did not beryllium the beingness of immoderate acts of unit against the appellant by simply mouthing unit successful its antagonistic affidavit without mounting distant the acts of the appellant and factual grounds to amusement the acts and behaviour that tin beryllium categorised arsenic violent.

“Now, if the appellant’s activities were violent, that it is amerciable act, past specified convulsive activities tin beryllium checked by the authorities government, truthful that the instrumentality and bid would beryllium restored and maintained by the applicable information agencies, including the police, but it cannot beryllium resolved by edifice to different signifier of illegality by the authorities authorities going extracurricular the lawful transmission to usage its whims and caprices by suspending the activities of the appellant, since the authorities authorities does not person immoderate specified powers extracurricular of laws of the land.”