By Yemi Adeleye
Lagos – Alhaji Mohammed Musa, the Lagos State Chairman of the Road Transport Employers Association of Nigeria (RTEAN), has urged his loyalists not to fight, insult or harass anybody over his second term bid.
Musa made the plea on Thursday evening while addressing a crowd at the headquarters of the union in Lagos.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the RTEAN boss, who held series of meetings with state, zonal and chapel executive members of the union, later addressed the crowd.
The RTEAN leader said that his second term ambition had been endorsed by all members of the state executive and chapels in the state.
He advised his loyalists to report any provocations from opponents, instead of retaliating any harassment or insult.
“What you want, the continuity, has been given to you. Go back and relax. We will soon celebrate the second term. I am begging all of you to be peaceful. When you get back home, get ready for enjoyment.
“Please, don’t fight, don’t insult anybody, don’t harass anybody because what we want, God has given to us already. We cannot fight because our slogan is “maturity”.
“We are not touts, we can’t fight, just go back and prepare for the day you will dance, eat and drink. The national executive has endorsed the continuity,” he said.
Musa said that all the 54 state executive members and over 150 chapels of the union had endorsed his second term bid because he had redefined the union and ensured prosperity of many.
“We need peace in Lagos State. For five years, if you check record back, there is no crisis between RTEAN and NURTW or among members of our union.
“This is why we all decided to say continuity for the present excos. As the state government does not want any crisis in this state, so we don’t. That is why we carry everybody along as a family and all must be peaceful,” Musa said.
He said that members of the union, who wanted to sponsor his deputy for the office of the chairman, forgot that their candidate had also endorsed continuity with his signature.
“Out of the 54 exco members in the state, only eight later pulled out and said they are not going for the continuity again. Even if the eight are taken from 54, we still have 46 state excos on our side.
“I thank them all for endorsing me to go for the second term. The members know what the union used to be in the past and what the situation is now.
“We were called all sorts of bad names like touts or ‘agbero’, but now we have many educated people in our association, including royal fathers because we have brought sanity into this organisation”.
Musa appealed to the government to focus attention on road maintenance.
NAN reports that Musa, who had been in the office since 2014, will end his first tenure on Oct. 31.
Some members in the union, who are not interested in Musa’s continuity staged a protest to the Lagos State Ministry of Transport on Thursday, alleging that the current Chairman did not want to leave office.
Addressing the protesters at the Ministry of Transportation, Mr Oluwatoyin Fayinka, the Special Adviser to the Gov. Babajide Sanwo-Olu on Transportation, assured that the State Government was neutral on the issues raised and had at no time been partisan.
Fayinka urged the members to refrain from any act capable of disrupting the peace and tranquility of the state.