EXCLUSIVE: NURTW, RTEAN Chairmen Boycott Kwara Govt Taxi Distribution Event The Kwara state Government bit more than he could chew today as the two chairmen of the transporter unions in the state boycotted the event, where 100 refurbished second-hand taxi cabs were given out to commercial cab drivers in the state, E-Kwara has authoritatively learnt. The event, which was slated for 10am today did not kick off until around 12pm when the Governor arrived from the Ilorin International Airport and the Emir’s Palace, where he had gone in company of visiting President Goodluck Jonathan. The event attracted a mammoth crowd of women and students as well as relations of the beneficiaries of the gesture. But conspicuously missing among the crowd were the arrowheads of the event, the Chairmen of the drivers unions in the state. E-Kwara reliably learnt that though the two Chairmen, Alhaji Issa Aliyu and Alhaji Salman Ayoku of the National Union of Road Transport Workers (NURTW) and the Road Transport Employers Association of Nigerian (RTEAN) respectively were duly invited, they deliberately shunned the event in obedience to an alleged ‘order from the above’ Several sources today informed E-Kwara that the spaces provided by the state Government for the duo and some of their executives remained empty until the middle of the programme when other personalities were advised to take their places. However, an E-Kwara’s sting investigations this evening revealed that the action of the Chairman were on the instructions of the National President of the transport unions, Alhaji Najim Usman Yasin, who allegedly warned them not to attend an event that may stand the transporters in clear opposition to President Goodluck Jonathan and the PDP. He reportedly told the two Chairmen that as much as he is a Kwaran and respects the state Governor, he holds a bigger allegiance to President Jonathan who “has done so much for the Union across the country.” Meanwhile, a source in the know, who craved anonymity because he was not authorized to talk to the press on the matter, discreetly informed E-Kwara that the two Chairmen were at hand to receive the President at the airport, and even actively mobilized their members to accompany him to the Ilorin Metropolitan Square, venue of the PDP rally today. E-Kwara could not however confirm this report as frantic attempt made to confirm the report proved abortive. Also, several calls placed to the phone numbers of the Chairman rang severally without an answer. It will be recalled that the two major political parties in the state, the APC and the PDP have been enmeshed in a battle of wit over the proprietary of the former fixing its car distribution ceremony day for today, Monday 3rd March, 2014, the same day the nation’s no. 1 citizen, President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan was billed to visit the state. The PDP had therefore accused the opposition APC of deliberate sabotage effort, an allegation which the APC stringently refuted.
Posted on: Tue, 04 Mar 2014 06:10:23 +0000
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