By Ayoyinka Oni (Human rights activist and Political Analyst)
Published by Blacktalker
The NURTW is an old menace that must be stopped, not the name but the people operating it for the last 47 years. The NURTW was created in 1978 from the old Nigeria Road transport union which was established in 1930.[1] Back then, the union operated in the real sense of the word “Union” unlike the present gang we have today. The story of the last 47 years has been dark but much darker in the last 24 years after our so-called democracy.
On the surface, it is undoubted that the role of a union is to take care of the welfare of their workers nationwide and also give service to over 160 million Nigerians (as in the case of NURTW), but what they have become over the years is illegal tax collector for the state, instruments for campaign mobilization, election thugs and a gang of land grabbers.
Amidst this neglect of duty, the current chairman of NURTW who recently stated in Lagos that the union stands for peace has distanced himself from the action of Adio Shamsideen (a member of the NURTW) whose conduct led to the death of a young man. This incident forms the basis of this piece.
How can Sego make such a claim when everyone knows that the foundation of the Union is violence, bully, brutality and bloodshed and which has never stopped? This pattern is inherited and it did not start with them, they all met it and probably took it to another level.
One of the popular person still alive that was involved in the 70’s is Baba Alado of Mushin, real name Alhaji Taoreed Farounbi. But the foundation laid by Busari Adelakun of Oyo and Adebayo Ogundare of Lagos who were notorious in the 70’s to 90’s and early 2000 for political thuggery, election rigging and gangsterism was well followed by Oluomo and Sego’s of today.
A former Senator in Oyo state, Lekan Balogun once called for the end of NURTW, noting that they operate above the confines of the law and make mockery of democratic state, all with the full backing of the state.
Evidently, some union members are regularly involved in harassing and murdering political dissidents, inciting disorder and violence during factional clashes, and participating in electoral violence.[2] Little wonder why Nigeria’s NURTW is seen as a “mafia” and its main agents as delinquents.[3]
In 1978, the Union was initially established as a response to the pressing need, concerns and welfare of road transport workers in Nigeria. During this period, transport workers, including drivers and conductors, faced various challenges such as exploitation, poor working conditions, and lack of job security.[4] As such, the NURTW emerged as a platform to unite and advocate for the rights of these workers, providing them with a collective voice in their struggles.
It would have been good if this has remained the focus of the union but they lost their way soon after they kicked off, and when the politicians saw their strength, they started using them for election purposes mobilizing them as a tool against their political opponents. If you are going to deliver results to your political godfather then you must use destructive means aside bribery to secure votes for them.
The 1978 election demonstrated the union’s growing effectiveness, while the subsequent one became even more competitive, centered on who could secure control over the union’s administration. Not minding the methods they use which can include but not limited to physical confrontations, acts of intimidation, vandalism, and even clashes with any rival. Lagos Island which is where the recent incident happened recently has been used as a case study for several research on NURTW and political violence.
Political violence successes which install their political godfathers from local to state and federal is what gives them the confident to turn their intimidations, bully and assaults on citizens, bus drivers and rivals even after election is over because they believe they are untouchable.
One of the key findings from a study indicates that a significant proportion of respondents, specifically 85.6%, believe that political violence perpetuated by the NURTW compromises the security and safety of residents on Lagos Island. This recurring decimal underscores the prevailing sentiment that the union’s involvement in political violence contributes to an environment of insecurity and jeopardizes the safety of individuals living in the area.
Moreover, the study revealed that a substantial 87.5% of the respondents believe that the NURTW’s involvement in political violence adversely affects the overall governance and stability of Lagos Island. This sentiment points to the perception that the union’s actions have far-reaching consequences that extend beyond security concerns and also impact the governance structures and overall stability of the region.
The union exist as the front for a politically developed criminal racket organization and a transport mafia. There exist the executives who have direct access to the state and local governments, some even control the local government chairman, and there is a story of MC Oluomo the former NURTW chairman in Lagos alleging slapping a local government chairman.
They parade the state like kings with fleet of cars and even police escorts, which did not start today also, Adebayo Ogundare was given a presidential vehicle which he used to parade Oshodi after the 1978 election. In 2022, MC Oluomo was sacked by the union but was later reappointed by the Lagos State Government.[5]
We also have the street thugs who are the enforcers of garage law who are protected by the police to execute these laws and then report back to the executives. Then, we have the street cultist who serves as street protection for NURTW executives and politicians, this is the foundation of most of the union and they make sure they maintain, fund, manage and recruit more to their roots. All this for personal revenue collection which they have an unknown percentage they give to the state and local government and pay police and some other security agencies for protection.
No driver in Lagos is happy with the garage laws and they know they have no union but any thought of revolting is faced with violence and even police arrest, some drivers are sent to prison just because they stood against a union member. Imagine when you own Union that is supposed to protect you and be in charge of your welfare sends you to prison for fighting for better treatment.
Years ago, a tricycle operative was stabbed by a police officer and he died, I had rallied the union members of fellow tricycle to protest for, they did the first day but on the second day they said that their union leader got a call from above and he told them that “he who is dead is dead,” that they should continue working. That man did not get justice till date. The road Union workers from 1930 till after independent were so formidable that would never have happened to them.
It is scandalous that Lagos State continues to tolerate the extortion, violence and disorderliness of the NURTW on the roads. Its ‘thuggish agents’ collect dues by force from drivers, tricycles and commercial motorcycles, even from non-NURTW members. Sanwo-Olu and his officials cannot be loudly repeating the Lagos ‘megacity’ aspiration while tolerating the atrocious operations of the unions.
Other megacities like Cairo and Johannesburg do not. Lagos should implement its transportation master plan as soon as possible to prevent more harm from this union. When l say Lagos, l am not talking about the present APC government, they do not have the historical or moral capacity to get rid of this menace in our society. According to the Deputy Governor of Lagos, “the thugs are our cousins, and we can’t send them away from the family.”
The reason is simple, for the collection of unaccounted funds extorted from drivers, bikers, tricycle operators and market women and the rigging of elections for their continuous stay in power. It is all about extortion for the government and who carries out the extortion on behalf of the government, no paper and pen needed, just broad day light illegal robbery backed by a legal state operated with garage laws not known to the state.
With all the revenue from the drivers and others, they can not still give them a modern standard garage. When you enter the garage all you see is terrible buses and bad roads, dry gin seller and no modern facilities.
Levies collected by ‘agberos’ go to unit heads who, in turn, remit these monies to zonal chairmen who then further remit the payments to the state who subsequently gives the government its share. A 2021 report by the International Centre for Investigative Reporting (ICIR) revealed that the union generates N123.08 billion annually in Lagos which amounts to 29.4 per cent of the state’s internally generated revenue.[6]
The percentage that goes to the government is, however, not known. Checks by ICIR revealed that there are no sections in the financial statements where details of the state’s transport revenue are recorded or explained.[7]
This sum is the annual budgets of Nasarawa, Niger and Yobe states put together. A 2016 BBC documentary aptly captured and projected the menace of toll collection from commercial motorcycles, the rickety mini-buses, ‘danfos’ and traders at parks by NURTW enforcers to the world.[8]
Union leaders now openly flaunt their wealth. The days of working in the shadows have reduced because they also want to enjoy the thrill of the social space and also to leave double life where on one end, they are like celebrity rolling with celebrities but in their closet, they are the ones giving instructions to thugs and cultist to cause chaos when they need to either for election purposes or against a rival.
For proper context, these are men who have lived on the streets and understand that survival there belongs to the strongest. To become the one politicians choose to partner with, they must dominate the hierarchy. This relentless struggle for supremacy has long been marked by violence, death, and bloodshed and it continues to this day.
Before Lion junction, Dikort, 36 Kiniun, 52 Tambolo, Ojurin all became Oshodi One, there was so many bloods shed and it continued afterwards too. The number of gangs in Lagos all connected to NURTW from Shomolu, Bariga, Lagos Island, Oshodi and other local government areas are more than forty, many of former gang leaders are the ones leading the union till date.
Elewedu and Suwe Suwe who were said to be OPC members were killed in one of these numerous fights. It is an open fact that the leaders of the union operate through violence. Many cases are still fresh in our minds, including the assassination of then-NURTW state chairman, Saula Saka, in 2008.
In fact, many believed that the death of Saula Saka was the end of what might have look like a union, they claim cultist and assassins took over the union fully immediately after. The people of Oshodi in Arirori Street cannot forget November 28, 2008, a year characterized by numerous gun shots and human body roasted alive. The people of Oshodi have gotten used to running for safety.
OluOmo escaped death in 2010 but his driver was killed. In 2015, Olayinka Momora, MC Oluomo’s friend was shot dead. There was also the 2017 brutal murder of NURTW strongman in Oshodi, Rasaq ‘Hamburger’ Bello, during party local council primaries. The people of Lagos Island can not forget January 23rd, 2022, numerous gun shots and attacks and 4 people getting killed. Traders, road users all get in the cross fire and manage to hide in a shop till it was over.
The people of LASU in Ojo cannot forget the regular clashes that affects them any time Bike riders or bus drivers are having clashes over extortion. The people of Lagos Island cannot also forget the clash between Adekunle lawal aka Kunle Poly and Mustapha Adekunle Aka Sego who is now NURTW chairman in Lagos today.
Idumota, Obalende, Tapa Street and more can not forget the gun battles through out those periods. They were both later arrested and then released and advised to sheath swords. I would not call that an arrest. You do not arrest people that mobilize boys to the street to fight each other causing death and destruction along the way and you ask them to go sheath sword. The Nigeria police has mastered the act of leaving them to finish their clashes and then they come in to arrest mostly innocent people and further extort them.
The clash of MC Oluomo with the chairman of Tricycle Owners and Operations Association of Nigeria (TOOAN), Azeez Abiola can not be easily forgotten.[9] It was one of his last battles in Lagos which linked to the national NURTW leadership before he went ahead to become the national chairman of the union.
There is nothing wrong if an ex-conductor gets wealth, but when all these men get wealth through extortion and violence backed by the state, it does nothing but create a constant army that keeps climbing towards the leadership hierarchy to also to be like them tomorrow. The ENDSARS struggle was an open declaration and confirmation to tell you that the NURTW and their thugs all work hand in hand with the government when they brought hundreds of thugs with BRT buses to attack protesters.[10]
In March 2018, a confessed serial killer and a member of the NURTW confessed to killing as many as 1000 persons.[11] That was just one person confession, what will happen if we have 20 confessions. But this cases never see the light of the day, we never get to know the conclusion of the investigations. Like who sponsored the assassinations? To let you know how much security agencies cover for the NURTW thugs and the government. Imagine the numerous crime that would be solved if the police truly investigate matters that concerns the members of the NURTW.
Instead of real and modern transportation system we have an intentional terror group and hooligans hiding under unionism, protected by security agencies and politician patrons.
Why is the NURTW so lawless and seemingly wielding more power and influence over the populace than the government in power? Why is the government so lethargic at enforcing its own environmental laws that prohibits touting, street trading and miscreants collecting tolls on the road? Who is in-charge of the streets – constituted authority or outlaws – and for what purposes? Why is there so much impunity and hypocrisy in Lagos mega city?
On the flipside, a serious administration that is bent on sustainable development and committed to its larger responsibility of security and welfare to the law-abiding citizenry will not continue to indulge criminality under whatever guise. Therefore, the government should properly condemn the group’s unruly behaviour and initiate moves to instill civility in their conducts or have them proscribed. Again, not the name of the union or even the existence of a union but of the people operating it.
So why do Nigeria have a thing for going from a good or fair system and then move to a terrible one in all sectors. That will take us to a brief history of the good times, in 1934, Nigeria felt the union’s importance and growing influence, especially with its formation that year, prompting it to have offices in many cities in every corner of the country.
Not only did it defend the collective interests of its members within the colonial setting, but in the 1930s, the NURTW was also at the forefront of the fight and resistance against attempts made by the colonial government to impose higher duties on vehicles. The colonial government had intended to use the high taxes to combat the challenge of vehicles competing with the railway.
Around the 1970s, municipal buses been taken over by ‘danfos’ owned by private owners. As against the practice in the 1950s when local councils handled motor park management, parks were taken over by illiterate and hemp-smoking transporter union members and this emerged as the first manifestation of the albatross of violent and uncontrollable motor park warlords who were amenable to all forms of notoriety. This park politics led to schisms and antagonism and thus the transformation of parks into central hubs of political disorder which helped to fuel this typecast was the politicization of parks.
The strong man and leader of the unit then was Adebayo Ogundare; I mentioned him earlier in this write up. The destruction of a system of a society does not start with one man but one man is always the arrow head and an example for others to join in the destruction.
Ironically, for a region that prides itself as one of Nigeria’s most politically developed, the continued endorsement and acceptance of the union in its current format is antithetical and it hinders Nigeria in its journey to becoming a unified democracy. The support of governors gives NURTW leaders the possibility to be involved in criminal actions without the risk of being arrested, jailed, or convicted by the justice system.
The case study for this writes up mentioned Ojo, Oshodi, Lagos Island but there are likewise more stories from areas like Shomolu, Mushin and others.
One of the most popular NURTW leaders, Alhaji Akinsanya Musiliu also known as MC Oluomo became so powerful and it was said that he even attempted becoming the king of Oshodi but it was resisted.[12] During every election he is also the vocal point for the ruling class to kept their foots on the throat of the people. He stated that the Igbos that do not want to vote for the APC should not come out, he later denied it[13] that he was talking to one Iya Chinedu just in an attempt to cover up.
But according to his directive, especially during the governorship election, thugs were out in a civil-war-era style to check who is Igbo or look like Igbo and to prevent them from voting. Those that resisted were beaten and forced out of the polling units. At his own polling unit on February 20, he was caught saying vote APC or leave. All these actions are voter suppression, intimidation and harassment and it is a prisonable offence, but when you are an NURTW thug, especially the Chairman then you are protected by the state and clearly above the law.
During an interview on Channels Television, the National Public Relations officer of the police stated that MC Oluomo’s threat against Igbos was simply a joke. The joke was not Oluomo because he knew what he was doing, neither is an open threat like that ever going to be a joke, the joke was Adejobi Olumuyiwa who came on National TV to disgrace himself and the entire police force, showing us once again that the police can never properly bring NURTW members to justice on any case.
He even said he will investigate; we never saw the beginning of such or the end. MC Oluomo’s Lagos thuggery in winning elections even extended to Osun in 2018 for Oyetola and later Kwara and others.
One day, maybe a member of the NURTW for over 20 years will be bold enough to write or grant and interview telling us the inner workings of the group, then we get further insight on the damage this government approved hooligans have cost our society and democracy over the years. What Adio did in Lagos Island few days ago is a but a fraction of what he has done in the past or what any of them has done in the past and most which the security agencies are aware of.
The act of assault and brutality of anyone that cross their part is a normal way of life, that Lagosians have watch and endured for too long. They started like small cubs across the state but now they are lions that even the government are afraid of.
NURTW is not a union in the real sense even though registered as one, but a cover for the most violent and terrible men in our society use to extort, brutalize, maim, steal, kill and rule the street while under the protection of a government that needs their political support to win elections and to get unaccountable revenues.
Lagos is suffering and dying under the infestation of thugs, you will find them in all corners, market, bus stop, parks, malls, rail tracks, streets and more, harassing, oppressing, stealing, extorting, fighting and more, they make the city so disorganized and always in panic mode. There will never be a mega city without a mega eradication of thuggery in Lagos.
The solution to all this mess is right inside this piece but it can not happen without a change of government, because this present government will never do it. For Lagos to grow properly and for the democracy to survive and to curb insecurity the present style of the NURTW must go and a proper union of real road transport workers must emerge.
[1] Wikipedia contributors, “National Union of Road Transport Workers,” Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=National_Union_of_Road_Transport_Workers&oldid=1303835780 (accessed October 5, 2025).
[2] Fourchard, Laurent. 2024. “In the Shadow of the State: The Making of Garage Laws in Lagos”. Swiss Journal of Sociocultural Anthropology 29 (1): 85-101. https://doi.org/10.36950/sjsca.2023.29.8905
[3] Agbiboa, Daniel E. 2022. They Eat our Sweat, Transport Labor, Corruption and Everyday Survival in Urban Nigeria. Oxford: Oxford University Press. https://doi.org/10.1093/oso/9780198861546.001.0001
[4] Adebanjo, K. (2019). The Battle for Anambra: NURTW’s Role in Voter Mobilization. Journal of Nigerian Politics, 45(3), 321-345.
[5] Lagos appoints MC Oluomo as chairman of parks committee — after NURTW sacked him.” TheCable, April 7, 2022 https://www.thecable.ng/lagos-appoints-mc-oluomo-to-head-parks-management-committee-after-nurtw-sacked-him
[6] Punch Newspaper (2021). Lagos NURTW generates N123bn annually – Report. https://punchng.com/lagos-nurtw-generates-n123bn-annually-report/
[7] International Centre for Investigative Reporting. (2021). “Money for the boys: How ‘agberos’ pocket billions of Lagos transport revenue” https://www.icirnigeria.org/money-for-the-boys-how-agberos-pocket-billions-of-lagos-transport-revenue/?tztc=1
[8] Collecting Money on the Streets – Louis Theroux: Law and Disorder In Lagos – BBC (2016) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QirvYXIEscM https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hvX7mDQhAnc&list=PLO-wxIy9sHyY3YUVX3PnOPSVj5HSHMHcq https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v5XpfZlfHqo&list=PLO-wxIy9sHyY3YUVX3PnOPSVj5HSHMHcq&index=6
[9] Punch Newspaper (2022) “How I was attacked by MC Oluomo’s boys, framed by Lagos policemen – TOOAN chairman, Istijabah” https://punchng.com/how-i-was-attacked-by-mc-oluomos-boys-framed-by-lagos-policemen-tooan-chairman-istijabah/
[10] Punch Newspaper (2022) #EndSARS protesters reject food, drinks donated by MC Oluomo https://punchng.com/endsars-protesters-reject-food-drinks-donated-mc-oluomo/
[11] Independent Newspaper Nigeria (2018) “Confession Of An Alleged Assassin: How I Killed People For Money — Ade Lawyer” https://independent.ng/confession-of-an-alleged-assassin-how-i-killed-people-for-money-ade-lawyer/
[12] Punch Newspaper (2021). “Stop Oluomo from becoming Oba Oshodi – ruling house begs gov” https://punchng.com/stop-oluomo-from-becoming-oba-oshodi-ruling-house-begs-gov/
[13] The Cable (2023). “‘I was only joking’ — MC Oluomo recants threat against Igbo voters in Lagos” https://www.thecable.ng/i-was-only-joking-mc-oluomo-recants-threat-against-igbo-voters-in-lagos/
