The National Industrial Court of Nigeria (NICN) has dissolved the activities of the Lagos State Parks Management Committee, reinstating the suspended Road Transport Employers Association of Nigeria (RTEAN).
The presiding judge also directed the Police to stop intimidating RTEAN members and remove all barricades imposed on their secretariat by granting them access to their offices.
The State Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu had previously suspended the activities of RTEAN and appointed a 24-member committee, including Musiliu ‘MC Oluomo’ Akinsanya, as the chairman of the parks management committee.
On Tuesday, Justice Maureen Esowe ordered the reinstatement of RTEAN operation, noting that setting up a parks management committee by Mr. Sanwo-Olu was illegal.
In his ruling, the judge barred the Lagos government from interfering in the operations of the independent transport union. The judges said the government and the police should have intervened to resolve the matter peacefully.
The court struck out a preliminary objection to the defendant’s suit as it ruled that the matter was straightforward, with no serious dispute to warrant an exchange of pleadings.
RTEAN instituted the suit marked NICN/LA/381/2022 in October 2022 to challenge the Lagos government for allegedly suspending the elected executive committee of the union in the state and appointing a parks management committee.
The defendants in the case were Mr. Sanwo-Olu, Lagos attorney general Moyosore Onigbanjo, and the special adviser to the governor on transportation, Sola Giwa.
The fourth to 37th defendants are the police commissioner in Lagos and members of the parks management committee.
