Road workers, labour stage street walk for Fashola

A coalition of the National Union Road Transport Workers (NURTW), Road Transport Employers’ Association of Nigeria (RTEAN) and the organised labour yesterday held a carnival-like solidarity walk in support of the re-election bid of Governor Babatunde Fashola (SAN).

The march took off at 9.30am from the Tafawa Balewa Square with thousands of the union members dressed in branded T-shirts and Fez caps chanting various solidarity songs for the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN).

Residents watched with admiration as the marchers danced tirelessly to a live mobile musical band. 

The train went through Race Cross and ended at the state secretariat in Alausa where it was received by Fashola. 

State chairman of the road workers, Alhaji Rafiu Olohunwa, said the rally was inevitable considering the performances of Fashola. 

 He commended the governor for sustaining the legacies of his predecessor, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, who he said laid the foundation of the on-going socio-economic and cultural transformation in the state.

Olohunwa said Fashola had done well in the areas of road reconstruction and maintenance as well as infrastructural development despite many challenges. 

He assured the governor of landslide victory in the forthcoming election, stating that all unions and other allied associations in the state would ensure his re-election. 

He said the union “has the largest number of voters in Lagos metropolis,” which he said gives Fashola an edge.

The union leader said no fewer than 250,000 chieftains and members of the union “endorsed Fashola last Wednesday

‘’But the voting strength of our members across all the local governments (LGs) and local council development areas (LCDAs) in the state is well above one million according to the record of the union”.

He promised that all union members would deploy their voting power to ensure landslide victory for Fashola and all candidates of the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN). 

Fashola urged members of the union not to be involved in any form of violence.

Lagos, he said, “has thrived in the last decade on the foundation of peaceful co-existence”. 

He said government would continue to encourage operations of road unions as long as they “operate on the notion of peaceful co-existence and harmonious operations”.