The officials and members of the Ebonyi State Tipper Drivers Union have called for the urgent intervention of Governor Francis Ogbonna Nwifuru of Ebonyi State, over what they described as "a kangaroo election designed to bring about a forceful change in leadership and cause crisis within the Union."
The alleged illegal election, according to members of the Union, was purportedly conducted by individuals who are not registered members of the Union.
The tipper drivers who made this call in interaction with pressmen at the weekend in Abakaliki accused the Ebonyi State Commissioner for Works and Transport, Engineer Lebechi Mbam and his cronies of attempting to hijack the leadership of the Union.
It was gathered that a section of the members of the Union held an election at Pa Ngele Oruta Township Stadium, Abakaliki to choose their new executives, which was vehemently rejected by a group loyal to Comrade Emmanuel Chukwuemeka Nwibo
The State Commissioner for Works and Transport spearheaded the conduct of the alleged fictional election, as was gathered by a section of the Press.
It was equally learnt that security operatives were allegedly ordered by Commissioner Mbam to arrest some officials of the Union and their cronies who objected to the modalities by which the election was conducted at the Pa Ngele Oruta Stadium, Abakaliki.
It was also gathered that the President of the Tipper Drivers Union in the state, Comrade Emmanuel Chukwuemeka Nwibo was arrested by security agents on alleged possession of firearms but was freed when he was searched and no gun was found on him.
Many people have described such development as a clear case of harassment, intimidation and infringement of one's right as a citizen.
Various Units of the Union across Ebonyi state objected, rejected and boycotted the so-called election purportedly held at the Stadium.
Speaking to newsmen, the Ebonyi State President of Tipper Drivers Union, Comrade Emmanuel Chukwuemeka Nwibo said he was not aware of the election, noting that the Commissioner did not allow the members of the Union to follow their laid down rules and regulations in the conduct of an election as a registered union.
He said, "As the President of the Union, I and my members didn't even know anything about the election. They called us for a meeting. For the first time, the Honourable Commissioner for Works and Transport called us for a meeting and gave us three minutes to explain ourselves.
"We told him (Commissioner) that three minutes was not enough to know what was going on in our Union. He said no that he would like us to hear from him. The next thing, we could hear, was that the election was today. What are the procedures for the election, we don't know and we don't know about the forms for the exercise.
"They just picked one or three units out of the 20 units we have in Ebonyi State. They picked three units to use against the whole units in the State. Ezza Ezekunna did not know! The Afikpo unit did not know! Izzi didn't know! The Ezzagu unit didn't know and many other units in this State were not aware of the so-called election.
"We don't even know who planned the election and how it was planned, because we have a code of conduct guiding this kind of election as a union. The election was not even arranged by the government but singlehandedly by the Commissioner for Works and Transport, because no reasonable government authority would support a crisis-prone election or conduct a parallel election in the state.
"We are going to invite you in a very short time for our normal election and not a kangaroo election like this one. What happened today is a kangaroo election. None of our members understood what was going on, due to the total absence of laid down modalities in the whole exercise.
"We are a registered Union and nobody can hijack the leadership of this Union. You have seen that none of our members participated in the election. It was a show of shame. How can someone decide to call for a Union election without our consent? We don't even know.
"We have over 3,000 members in the Union in the whole of Ebonyi and what happened today is that even wheelbarrow pushers, Okada riders and miscreants were hired to come and vote during the election. It was a planned effort to get a little ground, but they became disappointed because no authentic tipper driver participated in the election.
"As a registered Union, we have a procedure for carrying out our activities. They were supposed to have sat down and discussed with the leaders of this Union and know how many units would vote at the election time.
"The opportunity would help to identify the authentic members and non-members of the Union. Not anybody who has a tipper or drives a tipper is an eligible member, especially during voting time. We have our register and the union's Chairman who can identify the authentic members. There was no agreement and no notification to anybody about the election.
"Our humble appeal is that the leader of the State, every relevant authority and stakeholder should not allow such an attack on the leadership of the Tipper Drivers Union in this State to hold water because it's a cumulative humiliation against our union's codes of conduct."
Also speaking, Comrade Ogume Sunday, the Chairman of Ezza Ezekunna Tipper Drivers Union, said, "I was not part of the election. I don't even know the election was held today. The Commissioner for Works and Transport called us for a meeting. He told us that we would sit and discuss issues concerning the tipper drivers' Union in Ebonyi State.
"When I came this morning, I began to hear that there was an election. That I should tell my people that we were going to have an election. I was surprised. I suggested that if he had the intention to conduct the Union's election, he would have told us before now. But it was unfortunate, that all of a sudden a group of people gathered and hijacked the Union and said, there is an election. I said I and my members can't be part of it."
Additionally, Nwenyim Fidelis who is the Chairman of the Izzi Unit and also the Founding Father of Ebonyi State Tipper Drivers Union narrated: "We were not part of the election. We were called and asked to know whether we should have an election and we echoed yes. We were dissolved and not only that, we were asked to wait till we hear from them later.
"But we haven't heard from anybody to date. The next we could hear was that today was our election and they only gave form to one person. When we reached there, we asked for the forms for the election. They asked the security personnel to arrest Fidelis Nwenyim, Emeka Nwibo and one of the tipper drivers.
"When we explained to the security personnel what happened, they told us that the people who asked for our arrest were faulty, and however asked us to go home if we were not part of the election. That's why we left and we will inform our members and as well the general public when we want to conduct our election. Only the Commissioner for Works and Transport conducted the kangaroo election."
Furthermore, Ikechukwu Okoro from the Ezzagu Tipper Drivers Unit and several other members of the Union equally said that nobody notified them about the election.
They expressed shock over the sudden schedule and conduct of the election by Commissioner Mbam and urged Governor Francis Nwifuru's urgent intervention by not allowing the mistake to become a full-scale crisis.
"When I heard about the election this morning, I was shocked. I said this kind of thing is supposed not to happen in this present administration. Whatever should happen, we have to discuss it first as a Union.
"Then, the government should fix a date for the election, agreeable to the Union officials and the members. Our union's election should not be conducted secretly. Tipper drivers aren't supposed to be having factions. We are brothers and friends and looking at the nature of work we do, we should have stable leadership both at the State and National level.
"This is a hard job that doesn't require us to be keeping enemies or malice. Government intervention is very necessary and it has to be urgent before the crisis will escalate," Okoro recommended.
