Justice Maureen Esowe of the National Industrial Court in Lagos has declared as unconstitutional, null and void the dissolution of the executive committee of the Road Transport Employers Association of Nigeria (RTEAN) by the Lagos State government.
Justice Esowe also nullified the appointment of a caretaker committee, known as Lagos State Parks and Garages Administrators to run the affairs of RTEAN in the state.
The judge gave the verdict in a judgment on a suit filed by the road transport union challenging the powers of the Lagos State governor and 36 others to dissolve its executive in the state.
The respondents in the suit are the Governor of Lagos, the state’s Attorney-general and commissioner for justice; the special adviser to the governor on transport, Sola Giwa; the commissioner of police, Lagos State, Sulaiman Raji, Bamgose Oluseyi, Azeez Abdulrahman and Isiaka Sereki, among others.
In their originating summons dated October 5, 2022, the claimant asked the court for an order of perpetual injunction restraining the defendants from further interfering in the managing and affairs of RTEAN.
They also urged the court to determine whether upon a proper construction of sections 4 (1), (2)& (3), and 5 (10) & (3) read along with item 34 of the exclusive legislative list, of the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria,(as amended), the first or third defendants have the power to dissolve the leadership of RTEAN, a Trade Union registered under the Trade Unions ACT, CAP T14 Laws of the Federation of Nigeria 2004, and appoint a caretaker committee to run its affairs.
In his response, the lawyer to the state government, Adebayo Haroun submitted that the government did not violate the law nor dissolve the national body’s operations in the state, but had sought to maintain law and order by creating the ad-hoc committee when violence ensued between the unions.
