Nigeria Content Online

Despite
the huge insult he received from the police for alerting them on an
alleged plan to disrupt the peace of the state by men of the state
National Union of Road Transport Workers (NURTW), former chairman of
the union, Lateef Akinsola (aka Tokyo), has again warned the state
police command to be prepared.

He spoke with
journalists in Ibadan at the weekend, saying the police needs to appeal
to his successor, Lateef Salako (aka Elewe-Omo), whose loyalists had
allegedly concluded plans to unleash mayhem on the state tomorrow
(Tuesday). The warning was the second Tokyo is making to the police in
less than two weeks.

He said that the
National Industrial Court, Abuja, is expected to give a judgment on the
suit he instituted to challenge his forcible removal from office before
his term’s expiration. He told journalists that the plan was to cause
serious mayhem in the state capital and its adjoining towns, if the
judgement goes against Elewe-Omo.

According to him,
as a law abiding citizen, his piece of information was to assist the
police in being proactive in their efforts to maintain law and order in
the state.

“Their plan is to
print T-Shirts bearing my (Tokyo) portraits, which their boys will wear
on Tuesday and go to town to cause a breakdown of law and order. We
appeal once again to the Oyo State Police Command to rise to the
occasion.

“And let me seize
this opportunity to correct the misrepresentation in an earlier
interview where I was quoted to have said that we have no confidence in
Oyo Police. I want to say it categorically that we have no other police
to run to except Oyo Police, who have been trying their best in the
past to maintain law and to curtail the excesses of Elewe-Omo boys.

“We have confidence
in them to continue to perform their constitutional role to the best of
their ability. I’m using this opportunity to tell the police to arrest
and prosecute anybody wearing any T-Shirt bearing my portrait to
ferment trouble. I have waited patiently all this while because of my
confidence in the judiciary, which is the last hope of common man. I
don’t believe in self help, hence my decision to approach the court to
seek redress,” he said.

The police, last
week, upbraided Tokyo for portraying it as ineffective over its dealing
with the incumbent officers of the NURTW in the state.

In a press release,
signed by its spokesperson, Olabisi Okuwobi, the command described
Tokyo as a known criminal who jumped bail granted him by the court.

Leadership in contest

Apart from
cautioning his successor against inflicting chaos on the state this
week, Mr. Akinsola has also appealed to the police to prevail on Mr.
Salako to stop trespassing on a parcel of land he bought on behalf of
the union before he was sacked from office unceremoniously.

Explaining that the
land was acquired to build a befitting office, driving school, and a
hospital for the use of members of the union, Mr. Akinsola said he was
in possession of the title deeds of the land, which, according to him,
costs N6 million.

He added that such
action is necessary because the leadership status of the union is still
in contest before a competent court of law.

“We heard that
Elewe-Omo is planning to encroach on that land tomorrow (today) to lay
foundation. He did not buy that land, and since there is dispute in
court over the leadership of the union, he should wait for Tuesday’s
judgment.

“Moreso, he had
used the land to go and collect N200,000 each from 83 branches of our
union on the pretext that he wants to use the money to develop the land.

“The following
week, he used the money to buy jeep. He has no good plan for that land.
If not, he will not go and arrange for hand-made blocks to erect any
structure on the land. The police should prevail on him to steer clear
of the land for now,” he said.

But, Elewe-Omo, in a live television programme at the state-owned
station on Sunday, said his regime has been preoccupied by lifting the
status of the union and that of its members in the state.