Lagos – The President-General, Maritime Workers Union of Nigeria (MWUN), Mr Anthony Nted, has called on security agencies to arrest the union’s former President-General, Uzoije Ukaumunna for allegedly mobilising some people to invade the union’s secretariat.
Nted, who made the call at a news conference on Monday in Lagos, said that the former president-general was flouting a court injunction.
A former Minister of Transportation, Chief Ojo Maduekwe, in 2001, sacked the executives of the MWUN led by Ukaumunna on the grounds that the executives were becoming security threats and that the executives had overstayed the mandatory tenure as prescribed by the constitution of the MWUN.
Nted spoke against the backdrop of Tuesday’s attempt to cause mayhem at the National Secretariat of the union in Apapa, Lagos.
The MWUN said that the union was uncomfortable with the actions of the union’s ex-president, whom he referred to as a threat to peace in the maritime industry.
He said that the MWUN was getting tired of the former president-general’s alleged intrusion.
Nted said that dockworkers branch had the strength and population to resist any form of militancy that could be orchestrated by the Ukaumunna group.
He, however, said that as a responsible and peace-loving union, “there is the need for government to take immediate action to curtail the situation before it goes out of hand’’.
The president-general said that those that staged the protest at the national secretariat of the union at 199 Osho Drive, Olodi Apapa in Lagos last Tuesday were orchestrated by the ex-labour leader and one Maurice Fangnon.
Nted said that some of the perpetrators were arrested and had been transferred to Panti Police station from the Trinity Police station in Apapa, where they were initially kept.
He called for urgent intervention by security agencies.
According to him, if someone who has been removed by the Federal Government about 14 years ago can still be allowed to regroup and invade our national secretariat, then something needs to be done urgently.
“We are calling on the government to do something immediately to apprehend Ukaumunna and the so-called Maurice Fangnon, because they violated a court order.
“ Another is that some miscreants wanted to pull down the maritime workers union’s national secretariat, because they came with acid, guns, cutlasses and all are with the Police,’’ the MWUN leader said.
“As far as I am concerned, those guys that invaded the secretariat of the union are not dockworkers, rather they are miscreants who were contacted and we know their mission,’’ he said.
When asked what to expect despite the apprehension, Nted said that the MWUN was equal to the task of protecting itself.
He urged the terminal operators to also beef-up security in their respective areas of operations and their environs.
The MWUN president-general advised the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA) rise up to the occasion by ensuring that security personnel were alert.
He, however, assured the terminal operators not to be apprehensive because of the recent attack
Nted said, “The union is always on ground to protect the industry with support from the government and relevant security agencies.’’
On the March 2017 elections into the National Executive Council of the MWUN, he called for caution among all aspirants, even as he noted that the union was united as ever.
Nted acknowledged that there were aspirants, adding that for any of them to emerge; he must be widely accepted by all the four branches.
He, however, acknowledged that, even though he had preference for a candidate who will succeed him as the president- general of the union, “his one vote cannot guarantee the individual’s victory at the elections’’.
Nted declined to reveal the name of his choice candidate.
He, however, stated that there was no section of the constitution “that says that there must be rotation for the post of president- general among the four branches of the union’’.
Nted said that the MWUN had four branches, namely: Shipping and Courier; NIWA and Seamen; Nigerian Ports Authority; and Dockworkers.
He explained that all members of the Central Working Committee of the union were qualified to contest for positions in the coming elections.
“The man who will contest for the post of the president-general of the Maritime Workers Union of Nigeria will campaign and I will support that person, but I have one vote.
“The man who will contest the post of president-general will campaign and I will support him if he is credible,
“I cannot support two people at the same time, I can only support one person.
“The constitution allows anybody who is in the Central Working Committee to contest for the post,’’ Nted said.
He noted that at the end of the contest, a winner would emerge
“However, whoever chooses to contest for the P-G’s position is free to do that but what I am pointing out is that there is no place in our constitution that says there will be rotation between the branches of the union for the post of the president-general.”
“They know that I cannot bring in a tout to lead them but I am bringing somebody who is qualified from one of the branches”.
He said that, “The workers of the union themselves know who the cap fits but at the end of the process one man will definitely win.’’
Efforts made to reach Ukaumunna for his comments proved unsuccessful.
