If you’ve been following Nigerian news in 2026, the name Tajudeen Baruwa has probably crossed your timeline more than once. On a Monday morning in March, this Ogun-based transport union chief walked into the National Union of Road Transport Workers (NURTW) headquarters in Abuja with court papers in one hand and the backing of thousands of supporters behind him, ready to take back what two courts had already told the country was rightfully his. What followed — gunshots, teargas, and his own arrest by the police he had personally notified — became one of the most dramatic moments in Nigerian labour history in years. But to understand Tajudeen Baruwa, you can’t start at the secretariat in Abuja. You have to start where he did: in the motor parks of Ogun State, learning the trade unionism game from the very bottom. The Tajudeen Baruwa biography is a story about patience, strategy, legal battles, and an iron grip on ambition that never quite loosened — even when the courts, the police, and a rival union boss stood in the way.
Early Life and Background of Tajudeen Baruwa
Roots in Ogun State — The Southwest Transporter Who Went National
Tajudeen Ibikunle Baruwa was born and raised in Ogun State, the southwestern Nigerian state that borders Lagos to the south and forms one of the busiest transport corridors in the country. Growing up in that environment, surrounded by the noise and commerce of motor parks, road transporters, and the informal economy that keeps millions of Nigerians moving daily, was formative. Ogun State wasn’t just his home — it was his training ground. Long before he ever sat in an air-conditioned office at the NURTW national secretariat, Baruwa was navigating the rough-and-tumble politics of Southwestern motor parks, learning who held power, how deals were made, and what loyalty actually looked like in Nigeria’s transport union world.
His exact date of birth hasn’t been widely disclosed in public records, though based on his career timeline — entering union work in the 1990s and building seniority over decades — he’s clearly a man who has spent the better part of four decades in the transport sector. What’s confirmed is that his primary base remains Ota in Ogun West, where he maintains a palatial residence in the Balogun/Mosa Onjuwon area. Ota isn’t incidental to his identity. It’s where his power base was built, his relationships were forged, and his ambitions — some professional, some reportedly more unusual — have always returned.
The Academic Background Behind the “Professor” Title
You’ll notice he’s consistently referred to as “Professor” Baruwa across years of news coverage. It’s a title that raises genuine curiosity: what academic credentials does a transport union president carry? While detailed records of his specific academic qualifications and the institution that conferred the professorial rank on him haven’t been fully disclosed in publicly available reports, the title appears consistently in official union communications, tribunal filings, and media coverage spanning over a decade. Senior figures in Nigerian public life sometimes earn honorary academic titles or professorial designations from various institutions, and Baruwa appears to carry his with the full expectation that it’ll be used. He signs official NURTW documents as “Prof. Tajudeen Ibikunle Baruwa” and the designation has never been publicly disputed by any of his many opponents — a notable fact given how heavily contested every other aspect of his career has been.
How Tajudeen Baruwa Built His Career in Transport Unionism
From Grassroots Member to Ogun State NURTW Chairman
Nobody who knows Tajudeen Baruwa’s story in the NURTW would describe him as a man who parachuted into power. His climb was methodical and long. He started from the grassroots — exactly where Nigeria’s transport union system expects its future leaders to begin — working through the local and state structures of the NURTW in Ogun State. He eventually rose to become the Chairman of the Ogun State NURTW council, a position that placed him among the most influential transport figures in the South-West. As Ogun State chairman, he also served briefly in an acting capacity overseeing the Lagos State NURTW council — a foreshadowing of the deep, complicated entanglement with Lagos that would define much of his national career.
His chairmanship in Ogun wasn’t without turbulence. At the tail end of his time running the state council, he encountered serious business setbacks. A source close to him confirmed that he lost several investments during that period, including a petrol station. Those losses gave him a reputation in some circles as someone who had been through the fire and come out the other side — not comfortable, but toughened. He’s described by people who know him as a very strict person, someone whose position on certain issues is difficult to shift once taken. That inflexibility would serve him well in legal battles years later.
Over 15 Years as NURTW National Treasurer
Before becoming president, Baruwa served for more than 15 years as the NURTW’s National Treasurer. That’s not a ceremonial position. In an organisation that manages dues, levies, and financial flows from transport workers across 36 states and the FCT, the national treasurer is at the very nerve center of how power and resources move. Fifteen years in that role means Baruwa had seen the financial architecture of the union’s operations from the inside — who got what, what the money trails looked like, where the vulnerabilities were, and which state councils were financially strong versus politically dependent. That knowledge is leverage, even when it’s never spoken out loud.
Southwest Zonal Chairman — Building the Network Before the Throne
After his Ogun State tenure, Baruwa served as the Southwest Zonal Chairman of the NURTW — the umbrella structure covering Lagos, Ogun, Ondo, Oyo, Osun, and Ekiti state councils. Southwest is the most commercially active zone in Nigeria’s transport network, with Lagos alone commanding more members, levies, and political influence than most other zones combined. Running the Southwest zone meant managing enormous competing interests, negotiating between state chairmen, and building alliances that would matter when the national presidency eventually opened up. By the time the NURTW national election arrived in 2019, Baruwa wasn’t a fresh face hoping for a lucky outcome. He was a calculated political operator who had spent decades positioning himself precisely for that moment.
The Remarkable Story of How Baruwa Won the NURTW Presidency in 2019
The Election Nobody Expected — Two Tajudeens and a Lucky Dip
The 2019 NURTW presidential election is one of those stories that sounds made up but is entirely real. The election was essentially a contest between two men from the South-West: the outgoing Ogun State chairman, Alhaji Tajudeen Ibikunle Baruwa, and the Lagos State chairman, Alhaji Tajudeen Agbede. Two Tajudeens. Same zone. Similar power bases. The outgoing president, Alhaji Najeem Usman Yasin, was seen as backing Agbede, which gave the Lagos man the early edge in expectations.
But after two botched attempts at a clean election that ended in stalemate, the NURTW had to resort to something that felt medieval in its simplicity: casting lots. A lucky dip. The man whose hand pulled the right paper would be the next national president of one of Nigeria’s most powerful trade unions — an organisation whose membership runs into the millions and whose control of motor parks gives it enormous daily leverage over commuters, transport operators, and state governments alike. Baruwa’s hand came out with the winning paper. Just like that, the man from Ogun State, the one who wasn’t supposed to win, was declared the next NURTW president. His opponent Agbede became the Vice President.
Inauguration as the 8th NURTW President — August 29, 2019
On August 29, 2019, at a colourful ceremony presided over by outgoing president Alhaji Najeem Usman Yasin, Tajudeen Ibikunle Baruwa was inaugurated as the 8th National President of the National Union of Road Transport Workers. He was clearly moved by the moment. “I am highly honoured and overwhelmed as I stand before you today as the new and 8th president of our great union,” he told the gathering. “Today marks a turning point and new dawn in the administration of the union.” Those words weren’t empty ceremony. They telegraphed genuine ambition — a man who had been waiting for a very long time, who had a clear idea of what he intended to do with the opportunity.
His stated agenda from day one included making transportation safer in Nigerian garages, reducing kidnapping around motor parks, modernizing union operations, and building peace within the membership — particularly in the perennially fractious South-West zone.
The Man Behind MC Oluomo’s Rise — Baruwa’s Political Chess Move
One of the most fascinating — and least discussed — dimensions of Tajudeen Baruwa’s early presidency is his role in the political rise of Musiliu Akinsanya, better known as MC Oluomo, as Lagos State NURTW chairman. Baruwa is widely identified as the political architect behind MC Oluomo’s ascension to the Lagos chairmanship. In a union where Lagos wields outsized power and financial resources, controlling or strongly influencing who sits at the top of the Lagos council is enormously valuable for a national president.
The two men were, for a time, aligned. Baruwa needed Lagos’s weight behind his national leadership; MC Oluomo needed national cover to consolidate his grip on the Lagos council. It was a transactional political arrangement that worked — until it stopped working. And when their interests diverged, the fallout became one of the most bitter and prolonged leadership conflicts in the NURTW’s history.
Tajudeen Baruwa’s First Term as NURTW President (2019–2023)
His Vision for Nigeria’s Road Transport Sector
Baruwa came into office with genuine ideas about transforming the NURTW from what critics described as an informal patronage network into a modernized labour institution. He spoke repeatedly about sanitizing the garages, professionalizing member welfare, and creating structures that would make the union competitive among formal labour organizations. He wanted to lift the profile of road transport workers in a country where they’re often treated as second-class citizens despite keeping the economy moving. Those were lofty goals, and early in his tenure, there were genuine signs of progress.
The COVID-19 Pandemic and Its Blow to the Transport Union
Then COVID-19 arrived and rewrote everyone’s plans. The nationwide lockdown imposed in 2020 hit no sector harder than road transport. Motor parks emptied. Buses stopped running. Levies dried up. Thousands of NURTW members — many of whom are daily income earners with no savings buffer — were pushed into acute financial distress almost overnight. The lockdown didn’t just slow down Baruwa’s reform agenda. It created a crisis of member welfare that consumed significant union resources and management energy. Progress on structural changes stalled. What had promised to be a transformative first year became a year of emergency management.
State Bans and the Southwest NURTW Crisis Under His Watch
Beyond COVID-19, Baruwa’s first term ran into a structural crisis that would haunt his entire presidency: the systematic banning of the NURTW by state governments across the South-West. Lagos, Ogun, Ondo, and Oyo state governments all either banned the union from operating in their states or replaced it with government-controlled park management committees. In Ogun State specifically — Baruwa’s own home state — the union was essentially made non-operational.
The practical effect was catastrophic. Thousands of union members in the South-West found themselves effectively jobless, squeezed out by state-backed replacement structures. And for Baruwa as national president, the irony was brutal: he was the leader of a union that had been stripped of functional presence in the zone he came from. His opponents would later use exactly this fact as a legal argument against his eligibility to seek a second term.
Business Losses and Personal Setbacks During His Tenure
The pressures of managing a fractured national union coincided with reports of Baruwa facing personal financial setbacks. The business losses he’d encountered at the tail end of his Ogun chairmanship continued to shadow his national tenure. Sources close to him described a man who was “changing” — hardened by experience, recalibrating priorities, more cautious in his dealings than the confident figure who had swept the national election. Running the NURTW is never just a professional challenge. It’s a life commitment that touches everything else around you.
Re-election and the Legal War for the NURTW Presidency
The Lafia Conference — Re-elected Unopposed for a Second Term
In August 2023, at the 10th Quadrennial National Delegate Conference held in Lafia, Nasarawa State, Tajudeen Baruwa was returned as NURTW president — this time unopposed — for a second four-year term. The conference drew delegates from 33 states and the FCT, with five delegates from each state. It was conducted in line with the Union’s constitution, following a Special Zonal Delegates Conference held on May 24, 2023. The external legal adviser, Barr. Sunday Oluwole, administered the oath of office to Baruwa and the newly elected 17-member National Administrative Council (NAC). The communique signed at the close of conference even praised President Tinubu’s economic policies — a signal that the new Baruwa administration wanted smooth relations with the federal government.
It looked, briefly, like clear sailing.
Opponents Strike — The Eligibility Challenges in Court
It wasn’t. Even before the Lafia conference took place, legal challenges to Baruwa’s eligibility had already been filed. The National Vice President of the union, Alhaji Tajudeen Agbede — the same man Baruwa had beaten in 2019’s lucky dip — filed a case at the National Industrial Court’s Lagos Division in April 2023 alongside five other South-West members, challenging whether Baruwa could legitimately stand for a second term given that the NURTW had been largely non-functional in his home state of Ogun. A parallel challenge was filed in Abuja. With cases pending in two different courts, the union entered a legal thicket that would last for years.
Baruwa’s opponents in the rival Yasin-aligned faction went further. They organized a competing conference in November 2024 that elected MC Oluomo — the same man Baruwa had once helped — as the new NURTW national president. In their view, Baruwa’s election was null because it had been conducted in contempt of court orders. The union effectively had two men claiming the same office.
National Industrial Court Rules in Baruwa’s Favour
On March 11, 2024, Justice O.O. Oyewumi of the National Industrial Court sitting in Abuja delivered a landmark judgment in Suit No. NICN/ABJ/263/2023. She affirmed Tajudeen Baruwa as the duly elected President of the NURTW. The judge validated both the May 24, 2023 Special Zonal Delegates Conference that re-elected Baruwa and the August 2023 national conference in Lafia. She declared unconstitutional the rival conference held by the Yasin-led faction on October 25, 2024, and restrained Alhaji Najeem Usman Yasin from interfering in the day-to-day running of the union’s affairs. The caretaker committee set up by the opposing faction was sacked. It was a comprehensive legal victory for Baruwa.
In a third ruling delivered by Justice E.D. Subilim of the National Industrial Court on March 6, 2026, in Suit No. NICN/ABJ/203/2025, the court went even further — ordering that Baruwa and his team take immediate control of the union’s affairs and directing MC Oluomo and his officials to vacate the secretariat, hand over all union property and documents, and stop collecting tickets or levies from members.
Court of Appeal Seals It — November 2024 Judgment
Still Baruwa’s opponents didn’t stop fighting. They appealed the National Industrial Court’s March 2024 ruling to the Court of Appeal in Abuja. On November 8, 2024, a three-member appellate panel — Justices Hamma Akawu Barka, Nnamdi Dimgba, and Asmau Ojuolape Akanbi — issued a unanimous decision. They dismissed the appeal as lacking merit. They upheld the lower court’s recognition of Baruwa’s presidency. They went further and awarded N100,000 in costs against the appellants. It couldn’t have been clearer. The legal system had spoken — twice — at two different levels of the court hierarchy. Baruwa was the president. But court papers, as Nigeria knows too well, are not always enough.
The March 2026 Showdown — Taking Back the NURTW Secretariat
The Day Baruwa Marched to Abuja with Court Papers in Hand
By March 2026, Tajudeen Baruwa had been waiting for the better part of two years to physically occupy the office that two courts had already told him was his. The FCT Police Command had reportedly deployed officers to the secretariat to prevent him from assuming office, despite the court orders. He had written formal letters to the police, attaching certified copies of both judgments. The responses, in his own words, were “not encouraging.” So on the morning of Monday, March 23, 2026, he made a decision: he was going in.
He arrived at the NURTW national secretariat in Abuja flanked by supporters drawn from across the country — a show of national breadth that was clearly deliberate. He’d notified the police in writing. He’d invited journalists. He wanted the world to see a man enforcing a court order in an orderly, documented, transparent manner. He began addressing journalists at the premises, calmly, methodically, with the measured confidence of someone who had done everything by the book. His General Secretary, Suleiman Musa, confirmed publicly that the union had formally notified the police about the takeover plan and that the operation was driven entirely by the court’s directive.
Gunshots, Teargas and an Arrest — What Happened at the Secretariat
Then it fell apart. What should have been a peaceful, legally-backed transition of premises became chaos. One of Baruwa’s supporters was reportedly shot. Police deployed teargas to disperse the crowd gathered outside the secretariat. And in one of the more striking ironies of the entire saga, the police force that Baruwa had formally and legally notified — the same force whose cooperation he had publicly sought — turned around and arrested him. By mid-morning, the headquarters of an organisation that controls transport operations across the entire country had become a scene of smoke, sirens, and wounded pride on all sides.
Baruwa was detained. His supporters were dispersed. The man who had two court judgments in his favour, who had done everything the legal system told him to do, ended the morning in police custody.
MC Oluomo Fires Back — “I Am Still the President”
From his side, Musiliu Akinsanya wasn’t taking the day’s events lying down. MC Oluomo issued a statement on social media that was direct and defiant: he maintained that due legal processes were still ongoing, that the judgment Baruwa was relying on had been appealed with a stay of execution entered, and that he — MC Oluomo — remained the National President of the NURTW. “Alhaji Musiliu Ayinde Akinsanya remains the National President of NURTW,” the statement concluded flatly. It was the same kind of firm, zero-concession posture that had defined both men’s approach throughout the dispute.
What the Takeover Means for Nigeria’s Road Transport Workers
Behind the drama of competing court papers and arrested union bosses lies a very real issue that affects millions of ordinary Nigerians. The NURTW controls or influences motor park operations across virtually every state in Nigeria. Who runs it determines how levies are collected, how members are treated, what safety standards are enforced, and whether or not the billions of naira that flow through Nigeria’s informal transport economy are managed with any accountability at all. The leadership vacuum created by a two-faction standoff doesn’t just create headlines — it creates instability in the parks, uncertainty for commuters, and an environment where unofficial extortion tends to thrive in the absence of proper authority. Whether Baruwa ultimately succeeds in consolidating his presidency will have consequences far beyond his personal ambitions.
Tajudeen Baruwa’s State of Origin, Tribe and Religion
Tajudeen Ibikunle Baruwa hails from Ogun State in Nigeria’s South-West geopolitical zone. His primary base is in the Balogun/Mosa Onjuwon area of Ota in Ogun West — a part of the state that sits close to the busy Lagos-Seme trade corridor. Ethnically, he is Yoruba, one of Nigeria’s three largest ethnic groups, and his career in Southwestern Nigerian politics and trade unionism has always been deeply rooted in that Yoruba-Southwest network. He is Muslim by faith, carrying the “Alhaji” title that confirms he has completed the Hajj pilgrimage to Mecca. His Islamic faith is consistent with the religious identity of a large proportion of Ogun State’s Yoruba Muslim community.
Tajudeen Baruwa Wife and Family Life
Tajudeen Baruwa is a married man, though he has kept the details of his family life notably private given the very public and often dangerous nature of his union career. His wife’s specific name hasn’t been widely confirmed in available public records — a reflection of how deliberately Baruwa has kept his household out of the crossfire that surrounds his professional life. He is known to have family and community ties firmly rooted in Ota, Ogun State, where he maintains his principal residence. Given reports of tensions in that community — including his reported ambition to become a traditional ruler in the Balogun area of Ota, where he has invested in local infrastructure projects including road construction and electricity transformer installations — his family life unfolds against the backdrop of a man whose ambitions are not confined to the trade union space alone.
Tajudeen Baruwa Net Worth and Business Interests
Tajudeen Baruwa’s net worth is not officially disclosed, which is typical for Nigerian trade union leaders and informal economy stakeholders. What’s documented is that he’s a businessman whose commercial interests have been intertwined with his union career for decades. He operated a petrol station during his Ogun State NURTW chairmanship years — an investment he reportedly lost during the turbulent tail end of that tenure. As a man who served as NURTW National Treasurer for over 15 years and then ascended to the national presidency, his financial dealings have inevitably been linked to the enormous flow of resources that pass through Nigeria’s transport union system. Unofficial estimates aren’t publicly pegged to a specific figure, but the combination of decades in union leadership, business interests in transport and real estate, and community investment in Ota suggest a significant if opaque financial footprint. What’s clear is that his ambitions — including the reported desire to establish himself as a traditional ruler in Ogun West — suggest a man with both the resources and the long-term vision to reach beyond his union identity.
Frequently Asked Questions About Tajudeen Baruwa
Who is Tajudeen Baruwa? Tajudeen Ibikunle Baruwa, widely known as Prof. Tajudeen Baruwa, is the elected National President of the National Union of Road Transport Workers (NURTW) in Nigeria. He was first elected the 8th NURTW president in 2019 and was re-elected unopposed for a second term in August 2023. Multiple court judgments — including from the National Industrial Court and the Court of Appeal — have affirmed him as the union’s legitimate president.
What is Tajudeen Baruwa’s state of origin? He is from Ogun State in Nigeria’s South-West geopolitical zone. His primary base is in the Balogun/Mosa Onjuwon area of Ota in Ogun West.
How did Tajudeen Baruwa become NURTW president? In a remarkable 2019 election where two candidates from the South-West were deadlocked after two failed attempts to produce a winner, the NURTW resolved the tie by casting lots — a lucky dip. Baruwa’s hand drew the winning paper, making him the 8th NURTW national president. He was inaugurated on August 29, 2019.
Why was Tajudeen Baruwa arrested in March 2026? On March 23, 2026, Baruwa led his supporters to physically reclaim the NURTW national secretariat in Abuja, armed with two court judgments affirming his presidency. Despite having formally notified the police beforehand, security forces intervened, shot one supporter, deployed teargas, and subsequently arrested Baruwa — a move widely seen as contradicting the court orders that had recognised his leadership.
Is Tajudeen Baruwa still the NURTW president? As of March 2026, the National Industrial Court and the Court of Appeal have both affirmed Baruwa as the duly elected NURTW president. However, MC Oluomo’s faction disputes this and has maintained its own claim to the presidency, citing pending appeals and a stay of execution. The situation remained contested and legally active.
What is the Baruwa vs. MC Oluomo dispute about? It stems from a contested re-election and leadership succession within the NURTW. MC Oluomo’s faction held a rival election in November 2024 that elected him as national president, which Baruwa’s camp challenged in court. Both the National Industrial Court and the Court of Appeal ruled in Baruwa’s favour, but MC Oluomo’s faction has refused to vacate the secretariat, creating a prolonged dual-leadership crisis in Nigeria’s largest transport union.
What tribe and religion is Tajudeen Baruwa? He is Yoruba by tribe and Muslim by religion. He holds the “Alhaji” title, indicating completion of the Islamic Hajj pilgrimage.
What is Tajudeen Baruwa’s title of “Professor” about? Baruwa is consistently referred to as “Prof.” in official NURTW communications, court filings, and media coverage spanning over a decade. While the specific institution and subject of his academic or honorary professorship hasn’t been fully detailed in publicly available records, the title has never been publicly challenged by his opponents despite the highly adversarial nature of the disputes surrounding his presidency