The Court of Appeal sitting in Ibadan has nullified the 2019 suspension of the National Union of Road Transport Workers (NURTW) in Oyo State, ruling that Governor Seyi Makinde’s action was unlawful.
Governor Makinde had, on May 31, 2019, banned the activities of the NURTW across the state, citing security concerns and breaches of public peace and ordered the government’s takeover of all motor parks.
Challenging the decision, the union filed a suit at the National Industrial Court on July 19, 2021, seeking to overturn the proscription. However, the lower court dismissed the case on March 23, 2022, for lack of merit.
Dissatisfied, the NURTW, through its counsel, human rights lawyer Femi Falana (SAN), filed an appeal on April 22, 2022. Falana argued that the Oyo State Government lacked the constitutional or legal power to suspend or ban a trade union legally registered under the Trade Union Act, CAP T14, Laws of the Federation of Nigeria.
The Oyo State Attorney-General, Abiodun Aikomo, defended the governor’s decision, claiming the ban was necessary to restore order amid rising tension caused by the union’s activities.
Delivering judgment in a three-man panel of the Court of Appeal led by Justice Kenneth Amadi ruled that the state government failed to provide any evidence of unrest or public disorder that justified the ban.
Justice Amadi stated: “Nowhere in the respondents’ counter-affidavit did they show that the conduct of the appellant warranted suspension on grounds of breach of peace, law, or order. The respondents failed to justify the proscription of NURTW in Oyo State.”
Consequently, the court set aside both the 2019 suspension and the Industrial Court’s judgment.
Concurring with the ruling, Justice Biobele Georgewill faulted the state government’s handling of the matter. He stressed that while the government has the authority to maintain peace, it must do so within the limits of the law.
He added “If the appellant’s activities were indeed violent, the state could have addressed them through lawful means such as the use of security agencies, not by taking the law into its own hands. The state government has no power outside the law to suspend a registered trade union.”
The ruling effectively reinstates the operations of the NURTW in Oyo State, more than six years after its proscription by the state government.
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