NURTW crisis: Ajimobi inaugurates probe panel

Date: 16-06-2011 11:57 am (12 years ago) | Author: Aliuniyi lawal
- at 16-06-2011 11:57 AM (12 years ago)
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Oyo State Government yesterday raised a five-man judicial commission of enquiry to probe the intractable crisis in the state council of the National Union of Road Transport Workers, which has led to wanton loss of lives and property .

Inaugurating the panel which has a retired high court judge, Justice Olagoke Ige as chairman, Governor Abiola Ajimobi said his government resolved to take the step because it could no longer fold its arms, while some people continue to portray the state as a state of touts and hooligans. Ajimobi said though his administration inherited the problem, it was resolved to put a stop to it.

In doing that, the governor vowed that nobody or group found culpable, no matter how highly-placed, would be spared, stressing that there would be no sacred cow. His tough talk came as the National Association of Nigerian Students, staged a peaceful demonstration in Ibadan to protest the killing of a 500-Level student of the College of Medicine, Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, Mr. Bala Shanono, in the latest round of crisis about a fortnight ago.

The students called on the Inspector-General of Police, Mr. Hafiz Ringim to court-martial the state Commissioner of Police, Alhaji Baba Adisa Bolanta, for his alleged inglorious roles in the NURTW crisis.
The association also wants Bolanta redeployed to the Force Headquarters for his alleged failure to apprehend the arrowheads of the bloody clash in which 10 people died and property including vehicles and shops were vandalized and looted.

The probe panel has a principal administrative officer, Alhaji Lere Omotosho, as secretary and a lawyer, Mr. Lekan Owolabi, a journalist with the State Broadcasting Service, Mr. Tunji Alawaye, as well as a human rights activist, Dr. Doyin Odebowale as members. The panel, which has eight weeks to conclude its assignment and submit its report, has the following as its terms of reference:

•To investigate the immediate and remote causes of the violent clash.
•To identify those individuals and or groups that precipitated and or participated in the crisis either directly or indirectly and recommend appropriate sanctions to be imposed on the identified culprits.
•To ascertain the number of persons killed or that sustained injuries during the crisis and to identify the spread and extent of loss and damage to means of livelihood and assess the cost of damage to personal or public property during the crisis.

Other assignments are: To investigate the sources of weapons used in the unrest and recommend measures to stem the illegal flow of such weapons in the state.
•To make appropriate recommendations on how to prevent recurrence.
•To recommend appropriate remedies to the innocent victims of the crisis and
•To examine other matters incidental or relevant to the crisis and advise government appropriately.
NANS President, Mr. Jude Imagwe, who made the call in Ibadan during the protest also asked the government to compensate the bereaved family of the late Shanono, who was the president of the National Association of Medical Students (NAMS).

Imagwe argued that Bolanta’s redeployment would serve as deterrent to others whom he described as “sleeping police commissioners” across the country.
He announced that NANS’ secretariat had been temporarily relocated to the University of Ibadan until the association’s demands were met.

Posted: at 16-06-2011 11:57 AM (12 years ago) | Gistmaniac