3 hours ago
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Top aides of Governor Hyacinth Alia of Benue State have been dragged before a Benue Chief Magistrate Court over an alleged plot to remove one Comrade Julius Agbatar as Chairman of the National Union of Road Transport Workers, NURTW, in the state.
The plaintiffs – NURTW and Agbatar – are seeking order of the court prohibiting the defendants from carrying out the alleged plot to remove, Agbatar, who is the 2nd plaintiff, from office.
In the suit filed by their lawyer, M. S. Kwaghtyo, the plaintiffs informed Chief Magistrate Kevin Mbanongun that Agbatar was elected as the Benue State Chairman of the National Union of Road Transport Workers on the 5th of August, 2025, for a tenure of four years subject to re-election.
They claimed that barely two months into the tenure of the 2nd plaintiff, the 1st to 5th defendants have plotted to remove him from office unconstitutionally and put in place a caretaker committee to run the affairs of the union contrary to the provisions of the constitution.
The plaintiffs claimed that they are aggrieved over the plot and approached the court for its intervention to stop acts of illegality from being carried out against them.
They applied for a declaration that the Agbatar-led State Administrative Council remains the authentic leadership of the union in Benue State until their four years tenure would expire on the 4″ of August, 2029.
Reliefs sought in the suit include: “An order of injunction restraining the respondents from tempering with, or dissolving the 2nd plaintiffs led State Executives of the National Union of Road Transport Workers before the expiration of their four years tenure.
“An order of injunction restraining the respondents from appointing any other person or group of persons as a caretaker committee or any other description to act as the State leadership of the National Union of Road Transport Workers (NURTW) in Benue State Chapter during the subsistence of the 2nd plaintiff’s tenure.
“An order of injunction restraining any person from parading themselves as the leadership of the Union in Benue State or holding any meeting purporting to be for the Union without the prior consent/approval of the Plaintiff who is in law, the substantive State Chairman of the Union.”
The plaintiffs also sought any order as the court may deem fit to make in the circumstances of the case.
The respondents are the Commissioner for Power, Renewable Energy and Transport, Secretary to the Sate Government, Commissioner for Justice, Special Adviser to the Benue State Governor on Union/Labour Matters Relations, Senior Special Assistant to the Benue State Governor on Youth Mobilization and Empowerment and the Commissioner of Police, Benue State Police Command.
Gov Alia’s aides sued over alleged plot to sack Benue NURTW chairman
