The National President, Union of Tipper and Quarry Employers of Nigeria, UTQEN, Comrade Aliu Mayungbe, has accused Delta State chairman of the union, Comrade Chukwudumebi Eluaka, of scheming to remain in office illegally despite the expiration of his tenure in office.
Speaking with reporters in Lagos, Mayungbe said the Central Working Committee of UTQEN approved the dissolution of Delta State executive of the union after series of advice in several correspondences.
According to him despite the dissolution, the Delta State executive led by Eluaka had continued to disregard the resolution of the Central Working Committee, CWC, of the union of February 18, 2021
He explained that Eluaka and his team were elected for a period of four years and after the expiration of their tenure on January 4, 2021, the headquarters of the union directed that he handed over to a Caretaker committee in line with our constitution, but he refused.
According to him, the constitution empowers the national body to dissolve state executives after the expiration of their tenure and constitute a caretaker committee to conduct free and fair election within three month.
According to Mayungbe, letters of dissolution were written to the entire state executives where there tenure had expired directing them to handover to a Caretaker Committee adding that they all complied with the exception of Delta State led by Eluaka.
He said, “the headquarters received a petition from a lawyer in Delta State asking us to intervene before it is too late.”
“Eluaka was elected as Delta State chairman of the union for a tenure of four years and his tenure expired on January 4.
“We then decided to install a Caretaker Committee to conduct election within three months but he would not allow the committee to work.
“He was going about accusing us meddling in the affairs of the state,” he added.
According to him, Eluaka was accused of serious misconduct for allegedly duplicating materials printed by the national headquarters adding that the matter was already before Police.
His words: “This is a man that has been accused of misconduct. He was caught red-handed duplicating materials of the union, printing unauthorized tickets. He also single-handedly removed those that were elected with him. After sending them away, he replaced them with other persons without notifying the national headquarters. Out of thirteen elected officers, only three of them were running the affairs of the union.
“Is this the kind of person we should give the mandate to be the caretaker again? We are not asking him to leave the union. What we are saying is that, there should be a caretaker committee that will conduct fresh election and anyone interested can collect forms from the headquarters and go to every local government councils in the state to campaign. We are not going to handpick anybody rather members would elect whosoever they want. That is what we told him before he started grumbling and fighting everybody.”
He said that there are complaints from members in Delta State accusing Eluaka of giving membership forms to non-members adding that it had created problems in the union.
A letter dated February 18, 2021, jointly signed by the National President, Mayungbe, and the General Secretary, Comrade Yusuf Adudu entitled ‘’dissolution of all elected state and local government executives,’’ stated that the Central Working Committee of the union at its sitting on February 17, 2021 directed that all elected state and local government executives in Delta State were dissolved upon tenure expiration.
The letter also directed that a Caretaker Committee would be constituted to run the affairs of the union in the state pending the election of a new executive.
