Insists Abure remains party’s legitimate national chair
By Eshioromeh Sebastian, Abuja
The Labour Party has issued a scathing rebuke to the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) over what it describes as an unlawful threat to forcefully take over its offices nationwide, dismissing the union’s actions as “pure blackmail” against the Independent National Electoral Commission ( INEC).
In statement released on Tuesday, the party’s National Publicity Secretary, Obiora Ifoh, the Julius Abure led faction of the party, accused NLC President, Joe Ajaero, of orchestrating a campaign of intimidation, warning that any attempt to invade LP offices would be met with legal and physical resistance.
The warning came just hours after the NLC issued a secular to its members and workers across the country to picket Labour Party offices across the country, following last week Supreme Court ruling that the Labour Party insists did not nullify its current leadership.
The party maintains that its National Working Committee (NWC) remains constitutionally legitimate, having been duly elected at a March 2024 national convention in compliance with the Electoral Act.
The statement categorically denied any leadership vacuum, asserting that the tenure extension granted in 2023, which the NLC itself endorse, was lawfully superseded by the convention. “The tenure was to end in June 2024, however, before the end of that duration, National Convention was conducted on March 2024 in line with our party constitution.” The statement accused Ajaero of orchestrating a pattern of lawlessness, recalling how “in 2024, NLC forcefully broke into our national headquarters carting away valuables.”
The party lambasted the NLC leadership: “Ajaero should by now learn that attacking law abiding citizen, hooliganism and rascality is not a trait of a good unionist.” The statement further accused the labour leader of politicizing his office, suggesting: “He has since politicized the Labour Union in Nigeria and he is no longer fit to occupy that exalted office.”
The LP mounted a constitutional defense against the threatened takeover, arguing: “Based on the trade dispute Act, you cannot picket or declare a strike without a trade dispute. In any case, we do not have any staff of the NLC in our employment.” The party warned it would “not hesitate to write to the Registrar of Trade Union to discipline them if they resort to taking laws into their hands.”
Adopting a posture of restrained strength, the statement concluded: “We will seek the protection of the security agencies but where they defy the security agencies, we will have no option but to mobilise our members across the nation to resist them.”
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