There is fresh tension within the Lagos State chapter of the National Union of Road Transport Workers as a top member, Azeez Ajibola, popularly known as Istijabah, accused the union’s president, Musiliu Akinsanya, also known as MC Oluomo, of using union resources to impress Nollywood celebrities.
In a video now trending online, Istijabah claimed MC Oluomo collected several Toyota Venza cars from him and gave one of them to Yoruba actress Aisha Lawal as a birthday gift — without his permission.
“Aisha Lawal benefited from a Venza I worked hard to pay for, while MC Oluomo kept on pressuring us into debt to impress his Nollywood ladies,” Istijabah said in Yoruba.
He said the vehicle was never meant as a gift to the actress and expressed surprise when he saw her celebrating with it online.
“If not that I’ve forgotten about it, I would have collected my car. The other day, I saw her posting that car smiling. I was like ah-ah, this life!” he said.
The union leader went further, accusing MC Oluomo of ruining the lives and finances of some loyal NURTW members just to maintain a lavish lifestyle and please public figures.
“I will expose every one of you. I’ll reveal how you destroyed my car, my filling stations, and the child you killed. I have the evidence,” he warned in the video, though he did not mention names about the alleged death.
As of the time of this report, neither MC Oluomo nor Aisha Lawal has publicly responded to Istijabah’s accusations.
However, MC Oluomo later posted a cryptic video of himself on social media, listening to KWAM 1’s song ‘E Rora Sare’, a song that warns enemies to tread carefully.
Alongside the video, he wrote a caption in English that seemed to speak to his critics:
“You that woke up this morning and begged God Almighty for His grace… Please check yourself, are you PURE??”
MC Oluomo, once the Lagos State chairman of NURTW, has long been in a leadership battle with Istijabah over control of parks and ticket sales. Their clashes have sometimes turned violent, with reports of injuries and loss of lives in the past.
The conflict led to MC Oluomo’s suspension by the national NURTW body in Abuja. He later withdrew from the union and was appointed chairman of the Lagos State Parks Management Committee by Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu. Meanwhile, the national president of NURTW, Tajudeen Baruwa, named Fatai Adeshina, also known as Akeweje, as caretaker chairman for Lagos. But Akeweje’s group has yet to take over the union secretariat, claiming that MC Oluomo has taken control of it.
A report from the International Centre for Investigative Reporting in 2021 showed that the Lagos NURTW makes about ₦123 billion yearly, enough to cover the combined budgets of three northern states.
Although the two transport leaders; MC Oluomo and Istijabah, appeared to reconcile in 2022, this new drama suggests the fight for power and control in Lagos’ transport system is far from over.
