Court reinstates RTEAN in Lagos, says Sanwo-Olu’s caretaker committee illegal

A national industrial court in Lagos has ordered the reinstatement of the Road Transport Employers Association of Nigeria (RTEAN) in Lagos state.

In September 2022, Babajide Sanwo-Olu, Lagos governor, ordered the suspension of RTEAN activities in the state.

The administration said pockets of violence in Ojo and Lagos Island necessitated the suspension.

Later in October, the state government established a 35-person ad-hoc committee, headed by Sulaiman Raji, to take over the union.

Consequently, RTEAN instituted a suit to challenge the Lagos state government’s decision.

Delivering judgment in the suit marked NICN/LA/381/2022, on Tuesday, Maureen Esowe, the presiding judge, nullified the appointment of the committee.

She held that the act of the Lagos state government in suspending the union’s operations in the state and setting up a caretaker committee is illegal and against the provisions of Sections 4 (1), (2)& (3), and 5 (1) &(3) of the 1999 Constitution, as amended.

The judge disputed the state government’s claim that it had suspended RTEAN due to a fight, noting that the state should have involved the police instead of suspending the union.

Esowe restrained the state government from further interfering with the operations of the union’s exco.

She ordered the police to remove all barricades around the union’s secretariat and grant the leaders unfettered access to their offices.