… another campaign of calumny – COMTUA National President
… says MWUN, NARTO not part of the new MoU
Not long after the National President of the Council of Maritime Transport Unions and Associations (COMTUA), Adeyinka Aroyewun, held a virtual meeting with the Maritime Reporters Association of Nigeria (MARAN) saying that COMTUA still exists and even waxing stronger as a transport body, contrary to claim in some quarters, the Maritime Workers’ Union of Nigeria (MWUN) has in a statement maintained that COMTUA is disbanded having fulfiled its mandate.
MWUN in the statement said the founding members mutually agreed to disband COMTUA having achieved the purpose for which it was set up.
According to the statement COMTUA was founded as a response to the then gridlock which had become a permanent feature of the port access roads in Lagos making businesses suffer.
“Consequently, on the 19th March 2019, some Maritime-based unions and associations numbering seven mutually agreed to form COMTUA.
“These associations were: Amalgamation of Container Truck Owners (ACTOA), Maritime Workers’ Union of Nigeria (MWUN), Nigerian Association of Road Transport Owners (NARTO), Road Transport Employers Association of Nigeria (RTEAN), National Union of Road Transport Workers (NURTW), Association of Maritime Truck Owners, Lagos (AMATO), and Container Truck Owners Association of Nigeria (COTOAN).
“To run COMTUA, two organs were formed viz (i) Board of Trustees (ii) Management Committee while Adeyinka Aroyewun was appointed as organizing personnel when the need arose at the time.
“As follow up to the above, Comrade Olaleye Thompson was elected the first president of COMTUA by the mandate of the seven COMTUA parties but had to relinquish his position due to his own personal reasons. Subsequently, Comrade Adeyinka Aroyewun was given a mandate to the presidency of COMTUA through the mandate of the seven collaborating parties of COMTUA.
“We also wish to bring to the notice of the general public that no sooner than this fellow Adeyinka Aroyewun ascended the presidency of COMTUA that he started to attack governments of states, officials of government, government parastatals and their officers, security agencies, port users, fellow comrades, and the leadership of other unions and associations.
“These and many more unseemly acts of Adeyinka Aroyewun ultimately constituted a direct breach of the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) that initially bound the seven collaborating parties (COMTUA) and led to the pulling out of all seven collaborating parties, which led to a dissolution of COMTUA by virtue of a another MoU to establish the dissolution of COMTUA which all seven collaborating parties duly executed and which was franked by one Emeka Charles Madiebo, the legal practitioner who drafted same.
“This dissolution of COMTUA was duly publicised and circulated widely to alert the general public of the dissolution of COMTUA.
“We are therefore wondering how and where this Adeyinka Aroyewun derives his mandate to retain the presidency of a disbanded body especially as all seven collaborating parties have since withdrawn their mandate from the collaboration.
“For emphasis, we wish to state that COMTUA has been mutually disbanded and it remains so. Therefore anybody parading himself or herself as president is out to deceive the public and is merely an impersonator as they no longer have the mandate of the collaborating parties,” the statement read.
In a swift reaction to the statement, Aroyewun in public letter tagged “COMRADE ADEWALE ADEYANJU; A PATHOLOGICAL LIAR AND MISFIT FOR MWUN AND NLC LEADERSHIP” and made available to the press said he was surprise at Adeyanju’s desperation to dissolve COMTUA.
He described Adeyanju’s claim as another campaign of calumny stating that COMTUA was set up not only for gridlock but to serve as an umbrella body for truckers in the maritime industry.
The National President argued that a new MoU was signed with 11 unions, associations and groups after MWUN and NARTO had resigned from the association, stressing that MWUN gathering of Monday 31st of July 2023 was to endorse the illegal ticket you and your cronies intend to impose on truckers.
The letter read: “I read with surprise the level of Comrade Adewale Adeyanju’s desperation at dissolving an association he once resigned from and I wish to inform the general public as follows:
“1. The collaboration COMTUA was set up NOT only for gridlock but to serve as an umbrella body for truckers in the maritime industry.
“2. The foundation unions of the collaboration are: NARTO, RTEAN, NURTW, MWUN and ACATOA.
“3.Contrary to Adeyanju’s claim Mr. Stephen Okafor preceded Mr. Leye Thompson as the head of COMTUA in his capacity as National Coordinator.
“4. COMTUA is a collaboration bonded together by a memorandum of understanding. However at the annual congress held in November 2022, it was decided that we commence registration with the Trade Union Congress through the Ministry of Labour.
“5. Mr. Leye Thompson officially handed over to Prince Adeyinka Aroyewun at the annual Congress of COMTUA on November 25th, 2021 long after the dissolution of The Presidential Task team in December 2020.
“6. After the inauguration of the Exco led by Prince Adeyinka Aroyewun, a new MoU was signed with 11 unions, associations and groups (MWUN and NARTO excluded).
“7. Contrary to Adeyanju’s claim MWUN, and NARTO resigned from COMTUA while Mr. Leye Thompson was president. MWUN resigned on 23rd June, 2021 and NARTO on 20th November 2021, while Mr. Leye Thompson handed over on 25th November, 2022 at a very elaborate annual congress.
“Your gathering of Monday 31st of July 2023 was to endorse the illegal ticket you and your cronies intend to impose on truckers.
“How can a director that resigned from a company in 2021 claim to dissolve the company in 2023? It is legally and morally inconsistent.
“Adeyanju’s claims are unfounded; he is a misfit for MWUN and NLC leadership. We have never seen a PG of MWUN with the finished level of integrity, “Pathological liar,” the letter read.