Lagos State’s National Industrial Court of Nigeria (NICN) has reinstated the operations of the Road Transport Employers Association of Nigeria (RTEAN) in the State.
The judge, Maureen Esowe who voided the Lagos State Parks Administrator Caretaker Committee, held that the state government’s suspension of the national unions’ operations and setting up of a caretaker committee last October was illegal and unconstitutional.
According to her, the government and the Police should have intervened by arresting and prosecuting those behind any fracas purportedly involving union members and not inquiring into the dispute.
While restraining the state government from further interference in the operations of the union’s executives, it ordered the police to refrain from intimidating the union’s officers, to remove all barricades it imposed around their secretariat and to grant them unfettered access to their offices.
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However, Esowe also dismissed the defendants’ preliminary objections to the suit, saying the matter was straightforward, with no serious dispute to warrant an exchange of pleadings.
Information Nigeria reports RTEAN instituted the suit marked NICN/LA/381/2022, in October 2022 to challenge the Lagos State government for allegedly dissolving the elected executive committee of the union in the State and appointing a caretaker body, known as the Parks and Garages Administrators.
The defendants in the case are governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu; the Attorney-General of the State, Moyosore Onigbanjo and Sola Giwa, the Special Adviser to the governor on transportation.
The 4th-37th defendants are the Commissioner of Police, Lagos State, and all the members of the caretaker committee.
