The Situation That Keeps Sego At The Middle
4th of November, 2026
IN TRYING TO MANAGE HIS MISUNDERSTANDING WITH MC OLUOMO, HAS HE INADVERTENTLY HELPED ABDUL-AZEEZ ABIOLA ACHIEVE WHAT HE COULD NOT ACHIEVE FOR YEARS?
1. AN AMBITION THAT DATES BACK TO BARUWA’S FIRST TENURE
The issue surrounding the leadership and control of tricycle operators in Lagos did not begin today. It has a history that dates back to the first tenure of Alhaji Tajudeen Ibikunle Baruwa as National President of NURTW.
According to the account of events, Abdul-Azeez Abiola had long expressed an ambition to become the overall leader of tricycle operators in Lagos, with the intention of establishing a leadership position that would place him at the centre of tricycle operations.
This ambition reportedly generated friction between him and MC Oluomo, who was then the Lagos State Chairman of NURTW.
The disagreement was not merely about personalities or individual positions. It also raised a fundamental institutional question: should tricycle operations remain within NURTW’s organisational structure, or should they be separated into an independent leadership arrangement?
2. THE CONSTITUTIONAL BASIS OF MC OLUOMO’S POSITION: ARTICLE 3(9) OF THE NURTW CONSTITUTION
One important document that must be considered in understanding MC Oluomo’s position is Article 3, Section 9 of the NURTW Constitution. Please check the comments section
The provision expressly states that one of the Union’s objectives is:
“To organize all professional drivers (ie taxi, township/interstate bus services, trailer and lorry drivers) operating in local government owned motor parks who convey passengers and goods; and workers in private transport companies, motorcycle (okada) and tricycle operators throughout the Federation, including Abuja, the Federal Capital Territory.”
This provision is significant because it expressly identifies motorcycle and tricycle operators among the categories of workers NURTW seeks to organise throughout Nigeria.
It therefore provides a constitutional basis for MC Oluomo’s position that tricycle operations should remain within NURTW’s organisational framework rather than being detached from the Union.
The disagreement, viewed from this perspective, was not simply about who should occupy a leadership position. It concerned the institutional jurisdiction and organisational scope of NURTW.
However, it is important to distinguish the Union’s constitutional objectives from exclusive legal authority over every tricycle operator. Whether another registered organisation can independently organise such operators is a separate legal question that must be determined by the applicable laws, registration status and relevant court decisions.
Nevertheless, Article 3(9) makes one thing clear: the inclusion of tricycle operators in NURTW’s constitutional objectives is not an invention of MC Oluomo or a position created for political convenience. It is expressly written into the Union’s Constitution.
3. HOW THE DISAGREEMENT CONTRIBUTED TO THE MC OLUOMO–BARUWA CONFRONTATION
The disagreement over the organisational position of tricycle operators was one of the issues associated with the wider confrontation between MC Oluomo and Baruwa.
Baruwa subsequently suspended MC Oluomo as Lagos State Chairman, after which MC Oluomo moved away from the Union’s structure and became involved in park management.
From MC Oluomo’s perspective, the concern about tricycle operations was connected to preserving NURTW’s established organisational interests and the categories of workers expressly covered by its Constitution.
This historical background is important because it helps explain why the question of tricycle leadership remains a sensitive institutional issue within NURTW.
4. THE AMBITION NEVER DISAPPEARED; THE OPPORTUNITY HAS CHANGED
Fast-forward to the present situation.
Following the misunderstanding between Sego and MC Oluomo, Abdul-Azeez Abiola has reportedly been appointed caretaker chairman of the tricycle operators’ structure under Sego’s tenure.
This development raises an important question about the history of the disagreement.
If Abiola had pursued the ambition of becoming the overall leader of tricycle operators for years, and that ambition previously generated friction with MC Oluomo, what does his present appointment represent in the broader history of the struggle?
It may represent an opportunity through which an ambition that could not previously be achieved under MC Oluomo’s leadership is now being advanced under a different arrangement.
In other words, the circumstances have changed, but the institutional ambition may have remained the same.
5. SEGO’S POLITICAL ADVANTAGE MAY BECOME HIS INSTITUTIONAL DISADVANTAGE
Sego may believe that his present arrangement gives him an advantage in managing his disagreement with MC Oluomo.
But there is another dimension that deserves serious consideration.
By facilitating or accepting a separate leadership arrangement for tricycle operators, has Sego created an institutional platform that could eventually operate beyond the influence of the Lagos State Council?
Who will ultimately direct the operators? Who will represent their interests before government authorities? Who will determine their organisational structure and leadership? And what influence will the Lagos State Council retain over an arrangement that may develop its own independent identity?
These are not insignificant questions.
A person may gain an immediate political advantage from an arrangement without fully considering its long-term institutional consequences.
6. WHO IS THE REAL BENEFICIARY OF THE MISUNDERSTANDING?
This is perhaps the most important question in the entire development.
If Abdul-Azeez Abiola has been pursuing the leadership of tricycle operators for years, and the present disagreement between Sego and MC Oluomo has created an opportunity for him to occupy that position, then it is reasonable to examine who ultimately benefits from the new arrangement.
Abdul-Azeez Abiola may have found an opportunity to advance an ambition that had remained unresolved for years.
Sego, on the other hand, may have facilitated an arrangement whose long-term consequences could extend beyond his immediate disagreement with MC Oluomo.
The irony is that MC Oluomo’s historical position, as reflected in Article 3(9) of the NURTW Constitution, was that tricycle operators should remain within the Union’s organisational framework. Yet the present misunderstanding may have created an opportunity for a different institutional arrangement to emerge.
7. THE BIGGER DANGER: WINNING A PERSONAL BATTLE WHILE LOSING AN INSTITUTION
Leadership requires more than reacting to disagreements or settling personal scores. It requires the ability to consider the long-term consequences of decisions, particularly when those decisions affect the institutional structure of an organisation.
The question is not simply whether Sego has a disagreement with MC Oluomo. The more important question is whether the steps taken to manage that disagreement could produce an outcome that fundamentally changes the organisational position of tricycle operators in Lagos.
Article 3(9) of the NURTW Constitution makes it clear that tricycle operators fall within the categories of workers the Union seeks to organise. Any development affecting that arrangement therefore deserves careful institutional and legal consideration.
Sego must consequently examine not only the immediate political implications of his actions but also the possible long-term consequences for the Lagos State Council and NURTW as an institution.
POLITICS IS NOT JUST ABOUT WHO YOU DEFEAT TODAY. IT IS ALSO ABOUT THE INSTITUTIONAL CONSEQUENCES OF THE ALLIANCES AND ARRANGEMENTS YOU CREATE IN THE PROCESS.
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