Contempt: Court Orders Arrest, Remands Lagos NURTW Chairman Sego, Secretary in Kirikiri

Contempt: Court Orders Arrest, Remands Lagos NURTW Chairman Sego, Secretary in Kirikiri

 

The Lagos State Chairman of the National Union of Road Transport Workers (NURTW), Alhaji Mustapha Adio Adekunle, popularly known as Sego, and the union’s Secretary, Comrade Usman O. Teslim, have reportedly been arrested and remanded at the Kirikiri Correctional Centre in Lagos over alleged contempt of court.

 

The development followed a protracted legal dispute involving the NURTW and the Tricycle Owners Association of Nigeria (TOAN) over the control and regulation of commercial tricycle operations in Lagos State.

 

The reported arrest and remand came after the National Industrial Court, sitting in Lagos, initiated committal proceedings against the two union officials for allegedly disobeying its judgment recognising TOAN as an independent trade union.

 

The case, which has generated considerable interest within the state’s transport sector, centres on the enforcement of the court’s December 11, 2025 judgment directing the Lagos State Government and other defendants, including the NURTW, to recognise TOAN as an independent registered trade union under the Trade Unions Act.

 

In its judgment, the court ordered that TOAN and its members should be allowed to carry out their lawful activities without interference from the defendants.

 

However, TOAN subsequently accused officials of the NURTW of continuing to exercise control over commercial tricycle operators and collecting various levies, tickets and security charges despite the court’s ruling.

 

The association consequently initiated contempt proceedings against the officials, seeking their committal to prison for allegedly refusing to comply with the judgment.

 

In a ruling delivered in August 2026, Justice Isaac Essien of the National Industrial Court dismissed a preliminary objection filed by Sego and the union’s secretary challenging the competence of the contempt proceedings.

 

The judge held that the officials had been properly served with the relevant court processes through substituted service and could not claim ignorance of the proceedings after participating in the case through their legal representatives.

 

The court consequently ordered the two officials to jointly pay N2 million in costs to the judgment creditors.

 

In a separate decision on the substantive committal application, the court issued a summons directing Sego and Teslim to appear before it on October 15, 2026, to explain why they should not be committed to prison for allegedly disobeying its orders.

 

The court also awarded an additional N3 million in costs against them in the contempt proceedings.

 

The legal battle followed the December 11, 2025 judgment in Suit No. NICN/308/2021, which recognised TOAN as an independent trade union and directed the relevant government authorities and transport unions to respect its legal status and operations.

 

The court also dismissed applications by several judgment debtors seeking to stay the execution of the judgment, ruling that they had failed to satisfy the necessary legal requirements for such an order.

 

The latest reported development involving the remand of the NURTW chairman and secretary represents a further escalation of the dispute, which has raised questions about compliance with court judgments and the enforcement of judicial orders in Lagos State.

 

Further details of the circumstances surrounding their reported arrest, the specific remand order and the next court proceedings were not independently available at the time of filing this report.

 

Contempt: Court Orders Arrest, Remands Lagos NURTW Chairman Sego, Secretary in Kirikiri