Newly-elected President General of the Maritime Workers Union of Nigeria (MWUN; Comrade Adewale Adeyanju has officially taken over the reins of office at a brief handing-over ceremony which held at the union’s secretariat in Apapa, Lagos on Wednesday.
In his first official speech after taking over from ComradeTony Nted Emmanuel, Comrade Adeyanju declared that the union under his watch would not tolerate the existence of cluster groups, forums under any ethnic colouration within the union.
He noted that the groups were the causes of several crises which the union, especially the pre-election face-off which according to him, was tactfully controlled before it could snowball into a full crisis.
He warned that in order to avoid future crisis, all members of the union must remain obedient to the constitution guiding the Maritime Workers Union of Nigeria and must operate by it alone.
"I want to say that all associations and forums inside the port have been banned as from today, our constitution in the union is the highest organ that we know, I don't know anything about Alliance Maritime Forum, Oyo Forum, Ekiti Forum, Bakare Forum and so on, they are not enshrined in our constitution, so all these forums have been banned so that we would be able to concentrate and move the union forward", he declared.
Adeyanju noted that the era of allowing thugs at Nigerian ports has been successfully stamped out of the port by the union in the past eight years and that all dock workers are now gainfully employed by terminal operators.
He expressed appreciation to the immediate past President General of the union, Comrade Tony Nted, assuring that the union would never derail from the standards he has laid.
"We would continue to uphold the legacy you (Tony Nyed) have laid down, you have transformed the Maritime Workers Union to a standard, but we still need your support"
He also assured maritime industry stakeholders of the union’s collaboration. "We would collaborate with all the stakeholders in the port, the terminal operators, the shipping companies, the federal government, the NPA”, he stated.
Warning trouble makers to stay away from the ports, Comrade Adeyanju warned and whoever is coming to disturb the peace to think twice. “We have enjoyed peace at the port, and I have charged the security agents to be on the lookout for them", he added.
Speaking earlier, Comrade Tony Nted solicited the support of all members of the union for the newly-elected executives, even as he charged members to be upright in the payment of check-up dues and other financial commitments to the union.
He recalled how the election which produced Adeyanju was almost marred by the 21 petitions allegedly written by his opponent; Comrade Dahiru Talleh.
Nted who was appointed as the Chairman of the advisory Council of the union at last week's election in Uyo Akwa Ibom State however promised to continue to render his advice and support to the new executives.
"Before we elected him (Adeyanju), he has been tested, proved and trusted and this was why we elected, so we need to support him"
"We need to make sure that we work together, even the executives must work together, the new leadership needs support from all of us", he said.
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