The Nigeria Union of Railway Workers on Wednesday urged the Federal Government to reverse the renaming of Waziri Mohammed Rail Station, Apapa.
The Minister of Transport, Rotimi Amaechi had recently named Rail Stations across the country after prominent Nigerians.
In a statement issued by Secretary General, Segun Esan, the workers appealed to the Federal Government to reverse the renaming of the Station. The Station was renamed after the National Leader of All Progressive Congress (APC), Asiwaju Bola Tinubu.
The statement titled:Renaming of Railway Station: Why Rob The Dead To Pay The Living?, the workers said:“We strongly demand that the name of Apapa Railway Station be reversed to its old name, Waziri Mohammed Railway Station“.
The workers explained that after the painful death of “our beloved Late Alhaji Waziri Kyari Mohammed in a Bellview plane crash which occurred on 25th October 2005 at Lisa in Ogun State“, the station was officially named after Waziri Mohammed who until his untimely death was the Chairman of Nigerian Railway Board.
Part of the statement read: “Late Alhaji Waziri Mohammed toiled and laboured passionately and relentlessly for the emancipation of the Nigerian Railway system with verifiable intentions to impact positively on the welfare and wellbeing of the railway workers before the cold hands of death took him away.
“He died while on active service to Nigeria through Nigerian railway. The only thing that reminds the Nigerian Railway community nationwide of the sterling contribution of late Alhaji Waziri Mohammed to the development of Nigeria in the Nigerian Railway is the Apapa Railway station named after him. “Convincingly so, we exist in the reality of the undeniable fact that late Alhaji Waziri Mohammed, more than any Nigerian and as a concept that he truly was, deserve his rightful place in the history and geography of Nigerian Railway and also in the indomitable heart of Nigerians and the railway workers who remain thankful and appreciative of him for his unquenchable passion and enthusiasm for a better railway and happier workers.
“We earnestly demand justice for our glorious dead, Alhaji Waziri Kyari Mohammed, by returning his name to Apapa railway station. Let us not rob the dead to pay the living because, someday, we will all be dead”!
