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  • Make retirement easy for workers, NLC urges Fed, state govts

    Make retirement easy for workers, NLC urges Fed, state govts

    Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) President Joe Ajaero has urged the Federal Government to make retirement easy for workers, especially with the current economic challenges facing the country.

    Ajaero said this yesterday when he hosted a delegation from the XEM Consulting Limited, a subsidiary of XEM Group, organisers of the maiden pre-retirement summit scheduled to hold in Abuja on April 24 and 25.

    The team was led by the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of XEM Group, Dr. Eugenia Ndukwe.

    Ajaero said a lot had been said about contributory pension without significant improvement from the regulators.

    “Majority of the states have not started keying in, and one begins to wonder the essence of enacting a law.

    Read Also: Consumers flay electricity tariff hike without improved supply

    “Even when the law criminalised non-participation, no state has been prosecuted, fined or levied,” he said.

    The NLC president regretted that pension matters in the country were becoming more of a rhetoric than action.

    He urged the federal and state governments to take seriously the issue of workers’ pension and ensure they enjoy life after retirement.

    “Governments in this business are not just employers of labour, they are regulators. If regulators are not doing anything, then there is a problem.

  • Make retirement easy for workers, NLC urges FG, states

    Make retirement easy for workers, NLC urges FG, states

    President of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), Mr Joe Ajaero, has urged the Federal Government to make retirement easy for Nigerian workers, especially now that the country is facing economic challenges.

    Ajaero made the plea on Wednesday when he received a delegation from the XEM Consulting Limited, a subsidiary of XEM Group, organisers of the maiden Pre-retirement Summit, scheduled to hold in Abuja, from April 24 to April 25.

    The visiting team was led by Dr Eugenia Ndukwe, the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of XEM Group.

    Ajaero said that a lot had been said about contributory pension without significant improvement from the regulators.

    “Majority of the states have not started keying in, and one begins to wonder the essence of enacting a law.

    “Even when the law criminalised none participation, no state has been prosecuted, fined or levied,” he said.

    Ajaero regretted that pension matters in the country was becoming more of rhetorics rather than action.

    He, therefore, urged the federal and state governments to take seriously the issue of workers pension and ensure they enjoy life after retirement.

    “Government in this business is not just employers of labour, they are regulators, and if regulators are not doing anything, then there is problem.

    “We are the main victims; even when people retire, the Pension Fund Administrators (PFAs) find it difficult to pay them, thereby making it a difficult long journey to access their money,” Ajaero added.

    Speaking earlier during the visit, Ndukwe who is also a business development expert, said there would be opportunity at the summit to train prospective retirees on various skills, before they retire.

    She said the summit was carefully planned to examine the retirement policies in the country, the challenges faced by prospective retirees and proffer a solution to it before they retire.

    Ndukwe also said that experts from China, Canada and some European countries would be attending the summit to give their country’s perspective on pension reforms.

    This, she said would be to find solutions to the challenges faced by retirees in Nigeria.

    “We are bringing global participants to tell us what is happening in their countries, so that we will know how to utilise their own case study. Head of Service of the Federation will be the keynote speaker.

    “Lagos State Governor, Babajide Sanwo-Olu will be in attendance during the panel session to represent all the state governors, while Mr Adewale Tinubu, the Group Chief Executive Officer of Oando, will be representing the private sector.

    “We will also have the MD of Smart Meters Malam Ibrahim Babagana will also participate in the panel session.

    Read Also: LP disowns ‘NLC-energised’ Board of Trustees

    “The second phase of the programme will be the technical session where participants will be taken through knowledge and skill acquisition that will help them prepare for retirement.

    “They will know how best to invest their money, the kind of businesses they can venture into after retirement and what decision they can make with the little money they have available.

    “The third phase of the programme is the award. We want to recognise very few states, individuals, public servants who have contributed immensely to the reforms currently taking place around pension matters,” Ndukwe said.

    She added that the summit was open for government, private and public sector workers as well as financial institutions, labour unions, pension fund administrators and civil society organisations.

    (NAN)

  • Power sector worse off 12 years after privatisation- NLC

    Power sector worse off 12 years after privatisation- NLC

    The Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) has lamented the poor power supply in the country, saying this was not good for businesses and national development.

    Labour said twelve years after the sector was privatised by the administration of former President Goodluck Jonathan, power supply has not improved.

    President of the NLC, Joe Ajaero, who said this during the 13th quadrennial national delegates conference of the National Union of Textile Garment and Tailoring Workers of Nigeria (NUTGTWN) in Abuja on Tuesday, lamented that while tariff was on the increase, power supply had nosedived.

    He recommended a policy change to drive the power sector.

    Ajaero said: “I was one of the persons that said privatisation was not the solution to the power crisis in the country. Twelve years later we are worse off. While tariffs are on the increase, power supply is nosediving. We need some intervention in the sector because no sector can survive in this present situation.

    “Each time we hear of billions in the power sector but it is not making any impact. Even after privatisation, the power sector has been subsidised with over N2trn. We need policies in the power sector because that is the driver of industrialisation and development. This is very important.

    “In Nigeria today, there are many power plants that do not serve their purpose. This has affected us. That is why we need a new policy in the power sector that will assist everybody.”

    The NLC president also lamented the rising inflation in the country.

    Ajaero said with the current inflation of 31. 70 per cent, even if the national minimum wage was increased to N1 million, it would not be enough for workers.

    Read Also: Abure no longer LP’s chairman – NLC

    Ajaero said: “No matter the minimum wage we pay in this country today, if the issue of the devaluation of the currency continues, even if you pay N1m, it will lose its value the following day. If we don’t check inflation, if you don’t check the exchange rate, if you pay workers N1m today it won’t be able to buy much.

    “We need to look at all variables in the determination of the new minimum wage. No matter what you pay workers today, the value will go down in the next one year.”

    The NLC President also lamented the poor state of the textile industry, noting that no nation could survive without developing the textile industry.

    Ajaero said the fortune of the textile industry had not improved despite pronouncements by the Federal Government to revive the sector.

  • NLC, LP battle for supremacy

    NLC, LP battle for supremacy

    The many battles within the Labour Party (LP) and between the party and its surrogate mother, the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), have exposed the timidity of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) and law enforcement agencies, particularly the police, in their handling of political discord. INEC registers and delists political parties based on constitutional provisions. Strangely, on the long-running skirmishes within the LP, the latest of which came to the fore last week between NLC and LP leaderships, INEC has remained impassive. The police have over the years been swift in tackling intraparty rascality, in many instances shutting down party secretariats until the courts decided; but in the case of the LP, for reasons not clearly stated, they have been flatfooted, allowing crimes and malfeasance to be committed at will. No one is sure what scale of conflict must occur in the LP before the relevant agencies put their foot down.

    In managing an economy driven to ruin over the past one decade or two, the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) has appeared beleaguered. It runs the federal administration, and through the attorney general’s office, everything involving party conflicts that border on breakdown of law and order or self-help falls within its remit. But it has seemed content to watch the LP pulverise itself into a coma. Why help an enemy intent on destroying itself, especially after that enemy exhibited vacuity and total lack of ideology and principles? Intervening, the APC probably fears, might shift the focus away from the brigandage happening in the LP to the supposed meddlesomeness of an intolerant and discourteous ruling party. It probably reasoned that if it had intervened when the NLC/LP condominium was up in arms against the Lamidi Apapa faction, it would have robbed the country of the current spectacle contaminating the party in its entirety and deprived citizens of the ringside seats they covet to behold the weaknesses and vacillations of the party’s former presidential candidate, Peter Obi. But perhaps the various agencies empowered by law to intervene in intraparty conflicts are holding their peace because the constitution and Electoral Act already made provisions for the resolution of such conflicts. At what point then do these agencies deem the affected parties, in this case the LP, to have lost control?

    The LP is split into three ungainly and paradoxical factions. The NLC component remains the mafia don, the godfather and surrogate mother wrapped into one faction. It would stop at nothing and does not respect any law or convention in maintaining its stranglehold on the party. It boasts of no ideology other than the promotion of workers’ welfare, but it feigns to run a national party committed to regenerating and reforming the country. How it hopes to carry out that inspiring task without structured and coherent ideas is not spelt out in clear terms. The second faction is the Mr Apapa/Abayomi Arabambi faction whose casus belli are the alleged crass ethnicisation of the leadership of the party by Mr Obi and the NLC president, Joe Ajaero, allegations of illegal substitution of candidates in the last polls for which more than N2bn was reportedly deployed, and the NLC president’s undue militancy and disrespect for the rule of law. With the LP national chairman, Julius Abure, now crossing swords with the cantankerous Mr Ajaero, a third faction has now been formed headed by Mr Abure himself, an incredibly wily, obstinate and hugely underestimated politician. In summary, the LP is now balkanised into three factions, and its disputed leadership comprises one meddlesome NLC president and an ineffective and unideological former presidential candidate, Mr Obi. Can they resolve the logjam?

    In nearly every piece on the LP in the past nine months, this column had suggested that the party would implode sooner or later, and that Mr Obi, who is been framed as the next political messiah on account of essentially his parsimoniousness and nothing more, was clearly punching above his weight. The column insisted that Mr Obi had always been a political joiner, never a founder of any party; and that when he joined any party, even his loyalty could not be taken for granted. Worse, said this column, Mr Obi had no administrative acumen to run any party, let alone a political party formed by deeply fractious and unprincipled unionists unfortunately led today by a militant opportunist. Even if the LP is sustained into the next polls, concluded this column, the diminution of ethnic and religious politics, and the probable resolution of the country’s economic crisis, would rob Mr Obi of any campaign leg to stand on. In the event, the economy is responding to treatment, and the LP, because of its lack of a steely core, is being subjected to implosive legal, administrative and ethnic triggers. More alarmingly, if Mr Ajaero does not restrain himself, the NLC might suffer collateral damage from his noisome forays into the LP.

    The NLC president, in strict disregard to the law and the constitution, argues that the LP is owned by, rather than formed by, the NLC. As a result of that faulty premise, and perhaps because NLC leaders and workers won’t abdicate the prospect of building a formidable political machine and enjoying its perks, he led the NLC into taking the law into their hands when he went after the Lamidi Apapa faction last year. Last week, he again inspired the NLC into another insurrection to take over the offices of the LP. The police and INEC are predictably mute. In the fight he is leading against Mr Abure, his former ally, the NLC president has made the Freudian slip of accepting that the NLC is politicised. They were not content with forming a party, they are also deeply involved in running it; and if push comes to shove, they would gladly dethrone and enthrone party chairmen and leaders. Last week, in the heat of the battle with Mr Abure, the NLC president said he had no political ambition, and had not filled any form to so indicate. But he indeed has political ambition to the extent of using all the resources of the NLC to promote the interest of the LP. In his fight against the Bola Tinubu administration, he has clearly been unable to draw a line between his interests in the LP as an opposition party and the deployment of NLC instruments to fight both intraparty and inter-party wars.

    Mr Ajaero constantly overreaches himself. By flagrantly deploying NLC instruments to wage war against opponents, he risks fracturing the trade union and provoking leadership rebellion. He thought nothing of deploying NLC instruments to lend a helping hand to the LP candidate in last year’s Imo State governorship poll, until he was brutalised and humiliated by a throng of roughnecks. For months, he has also employed the same abhorrent tactics to fight the Tinubu administration over workers’ welfare. In his daily harangue to the administration, it was all too clear he had become incapable of differentiating LP from NLC, and union matters from partisan politics. No matter the setback he encounters in his many internal and external wars, Mr Ajaero will still be incapable of the moderation and finesse many have insinuated into his cause. There will be no one to restrain him, not the NLC leadership, and not Mr Obi. Instead, the former LP presidential candidate will watch carefully which way the cats are jumping before taking the partisan plunge. Judging from his statements so far, many of them bland and noncommittal, he thinks Mr Ajaero and the bellicose NLC will have the upper hand.

    Yet, regardless of the constitutionality of the NLC president’s position, Mr Obi appears very likely to distance himself from Mr Abure who served him dutifully during the last polls. In any case, the former presidential candidate has little patience for legal and administrative niceties. Once he sees which way the cats are jumping, he will align. And if the ship is sinking, he will follow the rats. It is dangerous opportunism; but he sees it as impeccable optimism and expediency. Mr Ajaero’s men have now taken over NLC offices and left Mr Abure with the short end of the stick. Why would anyone back the leprous Abure horse? When expediency rather than principles determine the course of action, there is no telling just what depths of infamy the LP would plumb in the months ahead as the neophyte which presumptuously prides itself as the main opposition party continues to unravel.

    The siege of Okuama and controversial questions

    Since militants murdered four military officers and 13 soldiers in Okuama, a sleepy Urhobo, Ughelli South LGA community in Delta State of perhaps hundreds of residents, neither they nor the army has slept. The community is deserted, according to Governor Sheriff Oborevwori, and much of the surrounding settlements, down to Igbomoturu in Bayelsa State, are in lockdown. Surrounding communities have declared Okuama indigenes, many of whom are stranded in swamps and nearby forests, persona non grata for fear of military reprisal. The military, however, said it would deliver ‘measured response and injurious consequences to the perpetrators’ of the gruesome killings, insisting that stories of burning villages and military reprisals were mere propaganda. Perhaps concluding that the crime scene was still an active military operational area, the governor has not visited Okuama, but has ordered the affected communities to give up the suspects.

    There are too many conclusions already on the Okuama tragedy. The Defence Headquarters insists the murders were a communal conspiracy. The governor insinuates that there could be some attempts to shield the perpetrators of the violence. And most commentators, citing the sacking of Odi, Bayelsa State, and Zaki Biam, Benue State, during the Olusegun Obasanjo presidency, as examples have reconciled themselves to the logic, if not legitimacy, of military reprisals. And nearly all analysts, including advertorials by Urhobo and Ijaw groups, not to say the feuding Okuama and Ikoloba communities whose boundary conflict triggered the murder of 17 military personnel, have struggled to distance themselves from the murders, condemned the killings in very strong terms, and prayed for the successful apprehension of the killers. In fact, it has been difficult for anyone to counsel the military to be restrained in its response, given the increasingly gory manner in which the army is framing the brutal killings. The federal government said the murders were an affront to Nigeria’s sovereignty, while the National Assembly charged the military ‘to smoke out the outlaws’ who perpetrated the barbaric killings. Given the mood of the country, it is difficult for anyone to talk of on the one hand and on the other hand. The scale of the killings and the barbaric mutilation of the bodies of the slain soldiers make it even much more difficult for anyone to be objective. But a few commentators have tried to swim against the tide.

    The scale of the military reprisals is not yet fully chronicled. Whether the manner in which the troops are executing their mission is provocative or not is not clear, but it is already established that the soldiers were ambushed and wiped out. The country’s official response was likely to start from that ugly and tragic premise, and as expected, it did. But like Odi and Zaki Biam where troops and policemen lost their lives by the dozens, the military reprisal unfortunately overshadowed the tragedy, solved nothing, could not even instill fear in the hearts of those tempted to take on the army, as banditry and Boko Haram have shown, and no lessons were learnt and no attitudinal changes were effected either among the increasingly militant populace or among troops themselves. The Okuama murders are truly and monstrously tragic. But it was another chance for the military to adopt a different template of combating this kind of provocation. There are no indications that it even contemplated a different template, preferring instead to ride on the instinctive wave of popular sentiments that condemn and damn the insolence and audacity of civilians and militants.

    Regardless of whatever template the military uses or does not use, whether diligent and painstaking law enforcement sleuthing or brute deployment of force, the killers will be apprehend. Someone will always snitch. Putting the suspect communities on lockdown is, however, not the problem; the problem is the reluctance or inability of soldiers to distinguish between the innocent and the guilty, an indication of the ongoing polemical contest between the democratic norm of being considered innocent until proven guilty and the military norm of being deemed guilty until proven innocent. Then there is of course the allegation of military high-handedness, which the army hopes would be expiated by either the shocking scale of the crime or the inevitable success of apprehending the suspects. That method has been used over and over again, in Plateau State when a retired major-general, Idris Alkali, was brutally murdered in 2018, and elsewhere. The problem is that after all is said and done, the military’s image is often sullied. For whether they accept it or not, or whether it makes sense or not, how a crime is solved is as important as the solution itself. The tactics of militants and brutal, sadistic killers, such as the Okuama militants, whether they were local youths allegedly led by Endurance Okodeh, aka ‘Gen.’ Amagbein who has denied the charge, or mercenaries from elsewhere, must always be objurgated. The military has a responsibility, even in their justifiable anger, to be inured to the tactics of the beasts that perpetrated the Okuama killings. This is not just nicety; it is the surest way of dealing with crimes and provocations while retaining the love, admiration and respect of the civil populace. The police are being compelled by the law and the proficient actions of the civil society to abjure torture; that abjuration must be nationwide, institutional, unapologetic and total.

    The loss of 17 officers and men of the Nigerian Army is truly disheartening. The slain men will never return to their families. Those who survive them in the army, including the rest of the country, have a responsibility to avenge them lawfully. But the military has an even greater responsibility of inquiring into why and how their men were deployed in Okuama, and why to secure the release of one abducted Okoloba man or placate boundary dispute between the Ijaw and Urhobo, a battalion commander, two majors, and a captain had to lead 13 soldiers into a fray quite beneath the status, and far removed from the training, of the Nigerian military. The military must inquire into the cheapness of their death, whether they were ambushed or not, and learn lasting lessons. Wiping out such a highly trained contingent in peacetime does no credit to the nation. The slain officers and men will not return, and as the authorities said, would be buried as heroes. Many more soldiers are deployed in almost all the 36 states of the nation, especially in the face of mounting insecurity. The Okuama deaths must, therefore, be investigated from the military point of view in order to ensure that next time, in more defensible deployments, no contingent dies so cheaply. The military owes their men that much, and the country a sophisticated precedent in interdicting a beastly enemy.

  • Obi loses grip on LP as party files petitions against NLC, Ajaero

    Obi loses grip on LP as party files petitions against NLC, Ajaero

    • LP petitions SGF, FG over invasion of secretariat
    • Seeks disciplinary action against Ajaero, other Labour leaders
    • Congress: Abure no longer party chair

    Presidential candidate of the Labour Party in last year’s general election, Mr. Peter Obi, may have lost his grip on the party after the LP leadership yesterday ignored his alleged mediation in the public spat between the party and its strongest ally in the run-up to the election, the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC).

    The LP fired a petition against NLC and its President Joe Ajaero to the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Minister of Justice and Attorney General, Labour and Employment Minister and  Registrar of the Trade Union “over the vandalisation of party offices and false claim of party ownership” by the congress.

    The party called for disciplinary action against Ajaero and other leaders of the congress.

    But congress in a swift response claimed Julius Abure has ceased to be the LP national chairman.

    The Nation gathered in Abuja yesterday that Obi had met with representatives of both sides with a view to reconciling them but all that appeared to have hit the rocks yesterday when the LP leadership denounced Ajaero and other leaders of the NLC for the Wednesday picketing of the party’s offices across the country.

    The NLC is laying claim to the ownership of the party and wants the national EXCO led by Julius Abure to resign the national convention of the party convened.

    A source close to the gladiators said: “Peter Obi met with some leaders of the party and that of the NLC, and he is mediating to ensure that peace returns to the party.

    “He also met with other stakeholders, not just the party leadership and NLC. It is not a media stuff that’s why you didn’t see it in the papers. It is an internal party matter.”

    National Chairman of the LP, Julis Abure, and the National Secretary, Umar Ibrahim, accused Ajaero of overreaching himself by using workers’ funds to picket and sponsor insurrection in the Labour Party headquarters; an action they said amounts to abuse of office and should therefore be called to order and properly sanctioned.

    “It has become unavoidably necessary,” according to them, to request government’s urgent intervention, as the NLC “has over the years engaged in a war of attrition with our party.

    “It came to a head and unbearable when the NLC under the leadership of Comrade Joe Ajaero directed the picketing of our party’s National Headquarters and our chapter offices across the country. The unwarranted attack in our office resulted in the destruction of several properties.

    “The NLC claims to be owners of the party and therefore wants to impose the leadership of the party, exert overwhelming control to achieve a political end. It must be pointed out that once a Political Party is registered by INEC, it becomes a body corporate with a perpetual succession and a common seal (see the letter of INEC to NLC dated 3rd September 2015) where INEC stated clearly that the NLC has no superior status.

    “Section 77 of the Electoral Act 2022 provides that a political party once registered has a life of its own and it is only regulated by its constitution. It is imperative to note that by the import of the above provisions, whosoever plays any role whatsoever in the registration of the party becomes immaterial. The party will thereafter be regulated by its constitution.

    “It should be noted that Section 221 of the 1999 Constitution (As Amended) prohibits any association from contributing to the funds of any Political Party. It is a criminal offence under section 15 of the Trade Union Act to use Trade Unions Funds whether directly or indirectly to fund a Political Party.

    “It is our argument that using workers’ funds to picket and sponsor insurrection in the Labour Party headquarters and its legitimate leadership is an abuse of office by the President of the NLC Comrade Joe Ajaero, and should therefore be called to order and properly sanctioned.

    “Similarly, the NLC has no right to picket an organisation where there is no trade dispute. The Labour Party has no staff who are members of the NLC. The actions of the NLC is a clear violation of the 1999 Constitution, the Electoral Act, the Trade Union Act and other relevant laws.”

    On the membership of the party, the petition notes that “It is of importance to further draw your attention to the fact that it is only members who are financially up to date with the party who have rights and obligations to in the party (See Article 9(3)(i) and (iii) of our constitution).

    “NLC members are not card-carrying members of Labour Party. The Labour Party cannot be owned by any association. Membership of the Party is on individual basis. The Labour Party’s Constitution says the Party is open to all Nigerians who accept its ideology, programmes and the constitution, irrespective of their religion, ethnic, gender, social and economic status.

    “However, the organs of the party as decided by the members assume leadership of the party. How this is achieved is well spelt out in the constitution.

    “As lawful citizens, we didn’t want to confront them in an uncivilised manner in order to avoid breakdown of law and order. We had the option of also mobilising party faithful to confront them. Doing that at this point where the harsh economic climate is having its toll on the Nigerian people will result in anarchy.

    “Hence, the urgent need to call the NLC and its leadership led by Comrade Joe Ajaero to order, educate them on the limit of their power, condemn their rascality, abuse of office and discipline them as appropriate.”

    Read Also: Why Ndi Igbo must support, defend Tinubu’s govt – Kalu

    The Acting National Publicity Secretary of the party, Obiora Ifoh, in a separate statement yesterday in Abuja asked the Federal Government, being the Regulatory Agency for trade unions, to define the role of the NLC, “particularly on its false claim of being the owner of the Labour Party for which NLC has continually harassed and intimidated the leadership of the party by way of interfering in the party’s activities and attempting to impose leadership on it.”

    On Wednesday, the LP national EXCO met in Asaba, the Delta State capital and ratified the programme for the party’s convention.

    On the same day however, the NLC Political Commission led workers to the national secretariat of the party in Abuja to picket it.

    The workers called for the postponement of the convention and the resignation of Abure.

    They also called for the setting up of a caretaker transition committee to organise a constitutionally recognised convention.

    Head of Information at the NLC, Benson Upah, in a brief chat with our reporter, said the convention planned by LP leadership “is off the table for now.”

    “Whoever touches Abure with a long pole now is on his own. I assure you of this.”

    The proposed convention has pitted the party against the NLC, the House of Representatives Caucus and some supporters of the party.

    The caucus leader, Victor Ogene, asked the leadership of the party to put an end to the infighting that is threatening the party and engage in further consultation in the overall interest of the party.

    The caucus had also said that many stakeholders, including the lawmakers, were not carried along in the processes leading to the choice of date and venue for the convention.

    Abure no longer LP’s chairman – NLC Political Commission

    The NLC Political Commission claimed last night that Abure was no longer LP National Chairman and dismissed as sarcastic and pathetic his allegation that NLC leaders stole staff salary during Wednesday’s picketing of the LP National Secretariat.

    Secretary of the commission, Comrade Chris Uyot, accused Abure of mischief.

    His words: “Following this week’s successful take-over of Labour Party Secretariats nationwide by the Nigeria Labour Congress who are the real owners of the party, Mr. Julius Abure’s silhouette continues to hide from the long arms of the law over various allegations and charges bordering on criminality.

    ‘It is unfortunate that instead of courageously coming out to the open to defend himself against several fingers pointing in his direction, Mr. Abure has adopted the cowardly posture of crouching in the undergrowth of shame, lies, treachery and infamy to lay fictitious claims against a dignified, focused and honourable institution like the Nigeria Labour Congress.

    “First is to make the point clear that Mr. Julius Abure has since ceased from being the Chairman of the Labour Party. Second, his latest missive that the successful takeover of the Labour Party Secretariat by workers who are the party’s rightful owners resulted in the theft of staff salaries is sarcastic and pathetic. It is unfortunate that Mr Abure has surrendered himself to the laboratory of public opprobrium on how the mind of an incorrigible liar, visionless usurper, timid traitor, and serial scammer works.

    “The reclaiming of Labour Party Secretariats across the country was witnessed by many policemen, officers from the State Security Service, and many journalists including television crews. The import of Mr. Abure’s fictitious claim is that the police, other security agents and tens of journalists who observed the peaceful visit by the Nigeria Labour Congress Political Commission were accessory to the crime of petty theft. We expect the Nigeria Police and other security agencies to add this outrageous defamation to the long list of crimes perpetrated by Mr. Abure.

    “During the nationwide peaceful reclaim of Labour Party’s secretariats, not even one canister of tear gas was fired as the picketing was conducted in tandem with the NLC’s philosophy and disposition to peaceful protests.

    “For Abure to concoct such daylight falsehood clearly proves to all Nigerians that he carries moral leprosy and must be avoided at all costs. The inconsistency in Abure’s account – from allegations of missing billions now to the theft of workers’ salaries and destruction of valuables – clearly confirms our earlier assessment of him as a drowning political wannabe.

    “After being rejected by all stakeholders in the Labour Party, we urge Mr. Julius Abure to show his face in public. He should not hide underground and be vomiting gibberish. The few insignificant scoundrels still hanging on to Abure’s tattered pockets of ill-gotten coins, including irresponsible grandfathers who have committed class suicide and show no visible means of livelihood, and who now appear on television to lie on Labour Party ownership must remember that history’s judgment on traitors is very dire.

    “As for Abure, his cup of moral rascality, administrative indiscretion and political incompetence overflows. The Nigeria Labour Congress intends to institute a private legal process against him for the defamation of the noble character of the Congress. He should also be ready to answer questions on why he kept staff salaries in the office a self-admission to financial impropriety, sleaze, and disdain for due process cum accountability.

    “While the security agents intensify their nationwide manhunt for Mr. Julius Abure and his ‘food is ready’ partners in perfidy, the Nigeria Labour Congress Political Commission wishes to remind all Nigerian workers and people that our focus can never be a tiny chameleon who lives under the coarse cannon of common criminality and fodders of low level infamy.

    “We are focused on fumigating and ridding the Labour Party of rodents whose only source of livelihood and survival is in picking on the mahogany of ideological and moral clarity that the Labour Party of Nigeria represents.

    “Labour Party must be thoroughly cleansed and repositioned as the vehicle for the socio- economic emancipation of all Nigerian workers and people.”

  • Labour Party, NLC squabble deepens

    Labour Party, NLC squabble deepens

    • Abure: invasion of secretariat shameful
    • Why LP chairman should go, by Wabba

    The call by the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) for the resignation of Labour Party (LP) National Chairman Julius Abure got the backing of its former president Ayuba Wabba yesterday.

    Wabba said Abure and his team were perpetrating illegality and that the LP had deviated from the founding fathers’ ideology.

    He dismissed the allegation of an attempt to hijack LP levelled against NLC President Joe Ajaero, saying it was designed to whip up sentiment.

    Wabba said Abure’s tenure had expired, and that a national convention cannot hold without ward and state congresses.

    The ex-NLC president also insisted that the NLC owns the LP, which he said was a common global practice.

    There was a protest on Wednesday at the Abuja LP headquarters by members of the Ajaero-led NLC.

    The picketing, which continued at state branches yesterday, was to press home the demand by the NLC that the LP should put off its March 27 convention slated for Umuahia, the Abia State capital, and for Abure to resign.

    But Abure described the picketing and the breakdown of the fence at the LP Headquarters, as a show of shame and an act of rascality and illegality.

    An LP stalwart, Pat Utomi, urged parties to sheathe their sword.

    He said the party must show that it is different from other parties.

    Also yesterday, the Edo State NLC council accused Abure of running the LP as a personal business.

    Wabba: LP, Abure must respect consent judgment

    Wabba said Abure had committed several infractions against the spirit and the constitution of the party.

    Backing workers for picketing LP secretariat, he said a police report indicted Abure.

    This claim, however, could not be independently verified as to its veracity.

    Speaking on a national television, Wabba maintained that the NLC owns the LP.

    He dismissed allegations of illegality against Ajaero’s administration regarding the picketing.

    Wabba said it was Abure and his followers who perpetrated illegality by planning a national convention without first holding ward and state congresses.

    Wabba said: “We registered the party and we have with us the certificate of registration. So, NLC owns LP.

    “Under my leadership, we had a dispute with the LP and it went to court. The court said NLC owns the LP.

    “But, what we see now is that LP’s actions are against the spirit of the consent judgment of 27th of June, 2022.

    “The LP needs to respect the sanctity of the consent agreement of June 27, 2002.

    “Nobody builds a property, having the C of O and somebody is mismanaging the property and the owner keeps quiet? No, it doesn’t work that way.

    “The present LP leadership has deviated from the original philosophy and ideology of the founding fathers and owners of the party and that is what NLC wanted to address.

    “The allegation of hijacking LP is mere whipping up sentiment.

    “What the NLC is saying is that the party is being mismanaged and the owner rose up to put things straight.

     “If there must be peace and stability in the party, all the terms and conditions in the consent agreement must be respected.

    “The term of Julius Abure as the chairman of LP has long expired.

    “When that agreement was signed on June 27, 2022, a year after, the national convention ought to have taken place.

    “In clear terms and in consonance with the terms of the agreement, Abure’s term has expired. He has overstayed and should leave the stage.

    “Second, the party cannot conduct a national convention without conducting transparent ward and state congresses first.

    “From the police investigation, Abure has been indicted and it has been established that there are fraudulent practices in the LP.

    “Some infringements have been committed and the people should allow the police to do their job.”

    ‘Abure running LP as personal business’

    The Edo NLC chapter accused Abure of running a one-man show.

    Picketing the state’s secretariat in Benin, the members alleged financial rascality and contempt of the congress.

    The Vice Chairman, Suleiman Abubakar, said the LP belonged to the congress, so the NLC ought to be carried along in every decision.

    Abubakar said: “We were directed across the 36 states of Nigeria to picket all LP’s offices.

    “We ought to have done the picketing on Wednesday, as directed by the Political Commission of NLC, but because we were unable to mobilise our members, we decided to shift it to today (Thursday).

    “Abure is running LP as his personal property. Everybody should be carried along.

    “Abure has announced the date for LP’s national convention.

    “He wants to hand-pick and impose a candidate on us. This is not the time to hand-pick and impose anybody.

    “The way forward is for Abure to go to the national level and resolve his differences with the leaders.

    “He must learn to play by the rules of the game. We are not being sponsored, nobody is sponsoring us.”

    Edo LP Publicity Secretary, Sam Uropka, said NLC had abandoned its primary responsibility to Nigerian workers by chasing shadows at a time when the workers were suffering and dying of hunger.

    Abure: NLC was carried alone

    Abure, in a statement by the Acting National Publicity Secretary, Obiora Ifoh, denied running a one-man show.

    He said the party leadership informed all the stakeholders, including the NLC, about the forthcoming conference.

    Read Also: Abure running LP as personal business, says Edo NLC

    Abure said he had discussions with Ajaero many times, insisting the leadership of the party would not allow him to hijack the party.

    The statement reads: “What we saw was a show of shame, a show of rascality, an abuse of office and an abuse of the law of the land.

    “NLC is subject to the law. NLC under Joe Ajaero is not above the law and the law precludes Ajaero and the leadership of NLC from taking the law into their hands.

    “They besieged the office, broke the fence, destroyed the gates, unlawfully took possession of the Secretariat and destroyed properties worth millions of naira.”

    “Properties were stolen, including monies made for the payment of salaries and other official purposes. This is unfortunate. It is becoming unbecoming.

    “The leadership of NLC under Joe Ajaero is on the path of destroying the successes we have recorded in the 2023 general election.

    “I had expected that as a responsible trade union centre, a responsible labour leader, he should have teamed up with the LP to see how we can team up together to make the country better.

    “Unfortunately and ironically too, the NLC is the one that is on warpath against the LP.

    “I must state clearly that Ajaero as NLC President has not been able to organise a successful strike action, not even a single protest or even picketing government establishment to bring the government to accede to the numerous requests of workers.

    “As we speak, there are unfair labour practices meted out to workers by several organisations in the country.

    “I have not seen Joe Ajaero go to such organisations to picket them.

    “Over the past few years, NLC has been claiming ownership of the LP. I must state clearly that NLC is not the owner of LP. The party is not owned by NLC.”

    Abure argued that the NLC can only picket the office of an employer.

    The statement added: “The law is very clear that you cannot picket an organisation where you do not have your workers.

    “We are not the employers of NLC and they don’t have a legitimate reason to picket our office. We have no trade union dispute with NLC.

    “There is no notice issued to us that we have a trade union dispute with NLC. This is clearly an abuse of office and an abuse of the laws of the land.

    “The propaganda they have been carrying around that we are planning a secret convention is totally false.

    “The NEC met in April 2023 in Asaba and granted the permission that the convention must be held in one year. We started planning for the Convention since then.

    “We communicated with INEC as requested by the law. We have also informed all the stakeholders, including NLC. I have discussed the issue with Ajaero on several occasions.

    “NLC on their own has written to INEC on several occasions on the need to hold the convention.

    “We are surprised that the same NLC is asking that that convention should not be held.

    “He has ulterior motives and we will not allow him to hijack the party.”

    Utomi: LP should be different

    In posts on X, formerly Twitter, Utomi said the LP should not force out its leaders as does other parties.

    He, however, said a change could be beneficial to the party.

    Utomi stated: “Change brings good health to most organisations. This is why the ICANs have short-term presidents.

    “All need to share in the values which govern renewal and why it is for the common good.

    “Egos need to be shelved when the good of all comes into play. None should lose dignity for that.

    “The LP must show that it can be different. If APC and PDP hound chairmen out for designs of the monied, Labour must look at what is good for the man in the street, the small business person and the future of a country that just dropped out of the top 10 in Africa by IMF.

    “I call on all the actors to cease and desist from press releases.

    “If we commit to a shared goal, and build on the common good, a clear vision will emerge and enable sacrifice by all.

    “The NCFront which worked with NLC and several parties for the third force must now be the conciliator

    “The NLC has a duty to the Fabian Socialism that gave Justice to Britain.

    “Abure needs to yield to the grace that thrust him into a great moment in history.

    “The traditional LP apparatchik must learn that without inclusion they will be pigmies for life. Win-win is possible.”

  • Workers break into LP’s secretariat in Abuja, demands sack of national chairman

    Workers break into LP’s secretariat in Abuja, demands sack of national chairman

    Row over the proposed national convention of the Labour Party has deepened with the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) staging a nationwide protest to demand the cancellation of the convention slated for March 27 in Umuahia, Abia state.

    The House of Representatives caucus of the party has also called for the suspension of the planned convention.

    But the Julius Abure-led National Working Committee has rebuffed all entreaties from party stakeholders, insisting that the convention would hold as planned.

    The workers on Wednesday, March 20, stormed the headquarters of the party at 11 am and forcefully gained entry into the secretariat of the party.

    There was a heated argument between the Head of Information of the NLC, Benson Upah with security agents stationed at the party secretariat which led to one of the security operatives drawing his gun.

    After a few minutes of heated argument, the workers forced their way into the complex.

    The party secretariat was deserted.

    The labour leaders, led by the acting chairman of the NLC political commission, Theophilus Ndubuaku demanded for the sack of the national chairman of the Labour Party, Abure.

    They accused Abure of being a “sole administrator who unilaterally fixed the upcoming convention without input from stakeholders of the party.”

    Ndubuaku said there had not been ward, local government, and state congresses in the build-up to the convention.

    He accused Abure of trying to secretly stage a coup that would make him (Abure) remain in office perpetually as national chairman.

    The labour leader said the leadership of the NLC political commission would not accept such illegality.

    Ndubuaku alleged that Abure was a political coup plotter who was plotting to remain as chairman of the party.

    Read Also: BREAKING: NLC shuts LP secretariat, demands Abure’s sack

    He said during a meeting with the leadership of the NLC, Abure was asked to step aside to allow for a thorough investigation following the accusation of misappropriation of funds raised for the prosecution of the 2023 general election.

    Ndubuaku said the Labour Party chairman “refused and proceeded with his plans for the convention without holding ward, local government and state congresses.”

    He said: “Abure is a political coup plotter. He was made secretary of the Labour Party in June 2019. In March 2021, Abure transformed into chairman of the party by himself. He plotted a coup since that time there had been court rulings and INEC interventions demanding Abure to do the right thing.

    “Abure was given a timeline of what to do. As we speak Abure has refused to inaugurate the Board of Trustees of the Labour Party which was part of an agreement initiated by INEC following a court judgement.

    “The NLC political commission has invited Abure within the past three weeks twice and he found excuses not to come. A day before he put out a notice that there would be a convention in Umuahia he was in the NLC office to meet with the president of the NLC and I was present and we discussed.

    “There is no convention that made Abure the chairman of the Labour Party. There had been court judgments establishing the fact that the Labour Party belongs to the NLC and somebody now hijacked the party.

    “Abure is planning to hold a convention without the owners of the party. All he wanted was to assemble some people within seven days to make him life chairman of a party he had no hand in establishing. When we wrote him he was abusing the president of the NLC. Can you imagine?”

    Secretary of the NLC political commission, Chris Uyot said: “As far as we are concerned, Abure has ceased to be the national chairman of the party. That is why Nigerian workers are insisting on a proper national convention. Nigerian workers have decided that it is time to take back our party.

    “Nigerian workers formed this party with the vision that the party would work to develop our society, work to improve our economy and our country.”

    But the party condemned the forceful takeover of its secretariat by the workers.

    In a statement by its Acting National Publicity Secretary, Obiora Ifoh, the Labour Party said the entry into its office was a criminal act and a misplacement of priority.

    The statement said greed and inordinate ambition were pushing the NLC president, Joe Ajero to lose discretion and decency.

    The party wondered how Ajaero could lead a band of lawless persons who are known to have partisan interests in other major political parties such as the PDP and APC against a recognised independent political party.

    The statement said: “Ajaero’s continuous claim that NLC owns the Labour Party is not in any way supported by either the Electoral Act or the Constitution. For his information, a political party is owned by those who are card-carrying or financial members of the party. We are aware that more than 90 percent of the members of the NLC have not met this condition and therefore cannot claim to be the owners of the party. The constitution also provides that no organisation can own any other organisation. The NLC as an organisation can therefore not claim the ownership of the Labour Party.

    “Today, Nigeria is witnessing the worst economic strangulation ever in the history of Nigeria. Issues such as poor workers’ wages, high inflation and insecurity with Nigeria turning to a Hobbesian state, yet after a year of his assumption of office, Ajaero has chosen to ignore all these national challenges.

    “It would interest you to know that Ajaero’s NLC is yet to successfully picket any Federal Government establishment. His attempt to extend his rascality to Imo state was met with a higher and brutal force. Unfortunately for us in the Labour Party, we do not command any force, unlike the NLC which is now encouraging militancy within its ranks.

    “By its own constitution, the NLC cannot even call for a picketing of any establishment without a directive of its NEC but what we saw was a political committee acting out an illegal script by Ajaero. The committee has no legal right to call an action in the nature of picketing or breaking and entering into a political party where most of them are not even members.

    “The present NLC leadership is politicized. It has left its primary responsibilities of defending Nigerian workers and has delved deeply into partisan politics and this is a bad omen for the working community. We have earlier advised Ajaero to emulate the leadership of Ayuba Waba, Olaleye Quadri, and Festus Osifo who had or are currently passing through a similar route and still maintain a working relationship with the party.

    “We are, however, reviewing today’s criminal actions and disruption of activities in our national headquarters with our legal department for further actions. What we saw today appears to be a personal vendetta against the national chairman, Julius Abure who they called several unprintable names including labelling him a thief. We are certainly going to take legal action on matters of libel.”

  • BREAKING: NLC shuts LP secretariat, demands Abure’s sack

    BREAKING: NLC shuts LP secretariat, demands Abure’s sack

    The Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) on Wednesday stormed the secretariat of the Labour Party to protest the party’s national convention planned for end of this month. 

    The Congress also demanded sack of the National Chairman of the party, Julius Abure. 

    The NLC leadership accused Abure of planning to hold a “secret” convention without the inputs of major stakeholders. 

    Read Also: NLC urges FG to pay varsity unions withheld salaries

    Thr planned convention has pitched Abure against the NLC and the House of Representatives caucus. 

    The workers accused Abure of planning to destroy the Labour Party. 

    The protesting workers have been refused entry into the party Secretariat by the Nigeria Police Force.

    Details Shortly…

  • NLC urges FG to pay varsity unions withheld salaries

    NLC urges FG to pay varsity unions withheld salaries

    The Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) has asked the Federal Government to pay university unions their outstanding salaries. 

    The Non-Academic Staff Union of Educational (NASU) and Associated Institutions and Senior Staff Association of Nigerian Universities (SSANU) on Monday commenced a seven-day warning strike over the non-payment of their withheld four months salaries. 

    The National Association of University Technologists(NAUT) also threatened to embark on strike from Wednesday. 

    In a statement on Monday by its President, Joe Ajaero, the NLC said there had been no credible reason or explanation for withholding the salaries of the unions. 

    The Congress said the decision of the federal government to withhold the salaries of university workers plunged the members of the unions into indescribable hardship.

    The statement reads: “We join our affiliate unions, the Non-Academic Staff Union of Educational (NASU) and Associated Institutions and Senior Staff Association of Nigerian Universities (SSANU) in demanding for the immediate payment of the withheld salaries of their members.

    Read Also: NLC, Abure leadership fight dirty over Labour Party

    “There has been no credible reason or explanation for withholding those salaries in the first place. 

    “We recall this singular act plunged the members into indescribable hardship.

    “Much worse, it defies logic to try to subject members of these unions to discriminatory treatment.

    “By doing so, the government is clearly courting avoidable industrial disputes.

    “At a time confidence is being restored to the public universities, the least the government could do is not engineer another strike.

    “The toll on all the parties will be unacceptably high, especially for students and parents who bear the burden of movement on our dangerous roads.

    “In light of this, we urge the government to expeditiously pay up the outstandings.

    “We advise the government to not take for granted the maturity of these unions.”

  • Pay NASU, SSANU withheld salaries to avoid academic drift – NLC

    Pay NASU, SSANU withheld salaries to avoid academic drift – NLC

    The Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) has called for the immediate payment of the withheld salaries of the Non-Academic Staff Union of Educational and Associated Institutions (NASU)and Senior Staff Association of Nigerian Universities (SSANU).

    Mr Joe Ajaero, NLC President urged the Federal Government to pay the four months outstanding salaries to avoid drift in the academic sector.

    In a statement issued in Abuja on Monday, the NLC President said at a time confidence was being restored to the public universities, the worst thing the government could do is to engineer another strike.

    It will be recalled that the Joint Action Committee (JAC) of NASU and SSANU had issued a circular to its members to proceed on seven-day warning strike from 18th of March over non-payment of the salaries as approved by President Bola Tinubu.

    The four months withheld salaries arose from the nationwide strike embarked upon by all unions in the public universities in the country.

    While the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) was paid the withheld salaries in full, NASU and SSANU were allegedly denied of the full payment.

    Ajaero said: “There has been no credible reason or explanation for withholding those salaries in the first place.

    Read Also: NLC, Abure leadership fight dirty over Labour Party

    “We recall this singular act plunged the members into indescribable hardship.

    “Much worse, it defies logic to try to subject members of these unions to discriminatory treatment.

    “By so doing government is clearly courting avoidable industrial dispute,” he said.

    The NLC President stressed that the effects of the strike on the parties would be unacceptably high, especially for students and parents.

    He, therefore, urged the government to expeditiously pay up the outstandings salaries

    “We advise government not to take for granted the maturity of these unions,” he said.

    (NAN)