High Court Strikes Out Iyeru’s Case Against NURTW

LUCKY LAWAL 

A High Court sitting in Abeokuta, Ogun State, has struck out a civil case brought before it by some aggrieved members of the Ogun State National Union of Road Transport Workers.

According to the report, one of the chieftains of the National Union, a former Vice Chairman of the State Union, Akeem Bodunrin, a.k.a Iyeru and three of other members of the Union approached the Court a month ago to get an injunction against the decision of the union to dissolve the Transport Committee, which he, Iyeru headed.
Speaking with P.M.EXPRESS, one of the counsels to the defendants, Barrister Adewale Adegoke, confirmed the case against his clients was struck out because the Court lacked the Jurisdiction to entertain the matter.

According to him, the plaintiffs filed a motion expacte dated 22^nd October, 2019, at the High Court sitting in Ogun State Judicial Division asking the Court to stop the President of the National Union, NURTW, Prof Tajudeen Ibikunle Baruwa, from the dissolving the Transport Committee and conducting an election for the union.
He said, “They file a motion expacte and another motion on notice for injunction restraining the NURTW from going ahead with the State Council election in Ogun State. When they got to Court, they told the Court they had two motions on notice pending and that they want to move their motion expacte. And motion expacte is moved only when there is a situation of extreme urgency and the Court cannot wait to put the other party on notice. We informed the Court that having presented in Court, they could not move that motion expacte anymore and in any event, they by their own conduct have not shown that there was anything urgent in the suit or application they sought to move and the Court should not allow them move their application”.
He further said it was at that stage the Court itself took them up which was extremely within the right of the trial Judge or any Judge to raise a jurisdictional issue and asked the Counsel of the plaintiffs to address him on it. The Court wanted to know if the Court had the jurisdiction to entertain the matter and he himself conceded that the Court itself did not have jurisdiction because it was a trade union dispute, over which only the National Industrial Court has jurisdiction and at that stage, he was force to withdraw the case and it was struck out.
Another counsel to the defendant, Barrister Vivian Uwaokhonye, also pleaded with Inspector General of Police, IGP and the Director of State Security Service, DSS to caution their men being used by Iyeru and his supporters to victimize the defendants.
She said, “They are using the Police and DSS to victimize the defendants. I want the IGP to caution the Police over civil matters. The Police in Ogun State get unnecessarily involved in civil matters; they arrest, detain and seized the properties of the defendants even
after taking the issue before the Court of Law. The plaintiffs have written a petition against their opponents dated Tuesday 8th October, 2019, alleging them of having the intent to cause mayhem by so doing sending the Police and DSS to victimize, arrest detain and seizing their properties”.
The signatories to the petition were Alhaji Akeem Bodunrin,Comrade Funlayo Odugbose and Alhaji Balogun.
Further more, she said, “The case was taken to Court, the lawyer that approached the Court knows that the place has no jurisdiction, he wanted to bend the hand of justice and get justice from the backyard unfortunately the Judge in Court 4 in Ogun State sitting in Abeokuta knows the law. He approached the Court because of the crisis within the members but unfortunately the Court cannot buy the idea. The decision is null and void and he withdrew. Justice has to prevail” she concluded.