The National Union of Road Transport Workers, Oyo State chapter, on Sunday issued a 7-day ultimatum to Governor Seyi Makinde, declaring that its members will resume full operations in all motor parks across the state on Monday, November 23, 2026, with or without government approval.
In a statement jointly signed by its Chairman, Alhaji Abideen Olajide (Ejiogbe), and Secretary, Comrade Lekan Alesinloye, the union said it had alerted the Federal Government, the General Officer Commanding, the Director of the Department of State Services, the Commissioner of Police and the Nigeria Labour Congress of its readiness to enforce the court judgment by itself.
“We are alerting the Federal Government; GOC; Director of DSS and the Commissioner of Police that we will implement the court judgment by ourselves because the State Governor has failed us,” the leaders said.
“We don’t mind if the State of Emergency is declared. We are ready. Enough is enough. We are putting the State NLC on notice too.”
The ultimatum, which runs from Monday, November 16, 2026, to Monday, November 23, 2026, is the union’s final warning after seven and a half years of what it described as illegal proscription, hunger, humiliation and the death of its members in droves.
“We have suffered enough injustice from this Makinde government. All the previous court judgments in our favour were never implemented by his administration ,” Olajide and Alesinloye declared.
The union’s confidence rests on the unanimous judgment of the Court of Appeal, Ibadan Division, delivered on September 26, 2025, in Appeal No: CA/IB/263/2022.
Delivering judgment, Justice Kenneth Amadi held: “The respondents failed to justify the suspension of the activities of the Appellant based on the ground of breach of peace, law and order in Oyo State caused by the Appellant. I allow this appeal, set aside the suspension on the operations of the Appellant in Oyo State. I also set aside the judgment of the lower court. The judgment is entered accordingly.”
The Certified True Copy, dated October 3, 2025, has since been in the union’s possession.
More damaging to the government, the union said, is its own admission before the court. In a Notice of Preliminary Objection dated April 23, 2026, filed by the Attorney-General and Commissioner for Justice, Mr. Abiodun Aikomo, the government stated that “the 2nd respondent has not done anything whatsoever to prevent the NURTW, the Appellant herein, from its operations in Oyo State.”
“With the Attorney-General now on record that government is not preventing NURTW from operating, we expect full compliance without further delay, victimization or harassment of our members at motor parks,” the union said.
But the union accused the Attorney-General of deliberately misrepresenting the judgment at a recent multi-stakeholder meeting convened by the Commissioner of Police after it requested police protection to resume work.
In a letter dated June 26, 2026, through Falana & Falana’s Chambers, the union described the Attorney-General’s position as “a calculated misrepresentation of the plain and unambiguous language of a binding superior court judgment.”
It challenged him to identify “with the precision expected of a Law Officer, which part of this Order is ambiguous,” insisting that setting aside the suspension was a direct restoration of its operational status and that no further enabling order was required.
Citing Section 287(2) of the 1999 Constitution, the union warned that every authority in Nigeria is bound to enforce the decisions of the Court of Appeal, and that any continued obstruction would amount to “a deliberate and continuing contempt of court.”
It demanded that the Attorney-General withdraw his interpretation, advise the government and all persons acting as park managers to vacate the parks, and publicly affirm the binding nature of the judgment.
It also called on the Commissioner of Police to provide immediate security for its members, direct Area Commanders and DPOs to enforce the judgment, and arrest anyone who obstructs its activities.
The union further alleged that it had credible information that the Park Management System in the state had acquired guns and ammunition to fight its members.
“We have it on good authority that the PMS in the State have acquired guns to fight our Union members. We are ready for them,” the leaders warned.
As November 23 draws closer, the message is clear: the union says it is not planning violence, but a return to work. It says its members are not criminals, but fathers, mothers and breadwinners who have been denied dignity for too long.
“An injustice to one is an injustice to all,” the leaders declared. “Enough is enough.”
