Ousted Dockworkers, Hoodlums Vandalise MWUN Building

About one week to  the delegates’  conference of the Maritime Workers Union of Nigeria (MWUN), estranged dockworkers stormed the head quarters of the union last Friday, vandalising everything in sight.
Eyewitness account told Shipping Position Weekly that the hoodlums who were more than 20 stormed the Osho Drive, Olodi Apapa three storey building in the morning with arms and other dangerous weapons.
They reportedly gained entrance into the compound after the unarmed security men took to their heels on sighting the invaders. They vandalised everything from the basement to the last floor including the President General’s office.
A shop owner who operates opposite the building told our correspondent that the hoodlums operated without hindrance as they completed their assignment before the arrival of the Police from the nearby Police station and the Area command in Apapa.
The MWUN National Executive Council elections come up on Friday, March 27, 2009 in Benin, Edo state where the incumbent President General, Comrade Onikolease Irabor is expected to hand over to a successor.
But some stakeholders alleged that last week’s attack was politically motivated by a foremost dockworker (identity withheld by us) who is currently eyeing the top most post and whose posters are already adorning strategic points.
He was alleged to have been supported by some of the dockworkers who were reportedly chased out of the port system following the clampdown on the leadership of the immediate pats president general of the union, Comrade Ukaumunna Uzoije in 2001.
Many dockworkers who could not meet the criteria that was put in place for registration by the then-Joint Dock Labour Industrial Council (JODLIC) headed by Alhaji Tijani Ramallan were consequently sacked from the ports.
A detachment of the Police from both the state headquarters in Ikeja as well as the Area Command and the divisional Police station; both in Apapa were seen by our correspondent at the vandalised building late on Friday.
Similarly owners of business premises around the area also closed for fear of being attacked or having their shops looted by the hoodlums.  
Reacting to the development, the President General of the union told Shipping Position Weekly that those who caused the mayhem were not dockworkers; apparently buttressing the information that the attackers were ousted dockworkers.