A Lagos court has issued arrest warrants for the Lagos chairman of the National Union of Road Transport Workers (NURTW), Mustapha Adekunle, better known as Sego, and the union’s secretary, Usman Teslim, after the two failed to show up to answer contempt charges.
Justice Isaac Essien of the National Industrial Court’s Lagos Division gave the order when neither the chairman or secretary appeared to explain why they should escape imprisonment for allegedly flouting the court’s directives.
The judge did not mince words about their absence, calling it a blatant rejection of judicial authority and cautioning that the court would not sit by while its orders were treated with disdain.
Separately, Justice Essien flagged a troubling affidavit from court bailiff Ayo Moses, who swore that the Chief Security Officer of the sixth judgment debtor blocked him from serving court processes on October 5, 2026.
The judge treated that alleged obstruction as a grave matter with potentially serious consequences.
The court directed that both officials be taken into custody and held at Kirikiri Correctional Centre, and instructed the Lagos Commissioner of Police, the State NSCDC commandant and other security agencies to carry out the arrests and hand the men over to the officer in charge of the facility.
Proceedings were adjourned to November 16, 2026, when the court will determine whether the two have purged themselves of the contempt.
The underlying dispute centres on claims that NURTW officials kept collecting daily, weekly and security tickets from commercial tricycle operators in Lagos, despite a December 11, 2025 judgment that recognised the Tricycle Owners Association of Nigeria as an independent trade union.