Labour Party crisis deepens as NLC, Abure faction trade blames over party woes

The internal crisis rocking the Labour Party has taken a new turn as the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) and the Julius Abure-led faction of the party continue to trade accusations over who is responsible for the turmoil threatening the party’s stability.

At a stakeholders’ meeting convened by the Senator Nenadi Usman-led National Caretaker Committee on Wednesday, NLC President, Joe Ajaero, pointed fingers at the Federal Government and its agencies, accusing them of orchestrating a plot to destabilise the Labour Party due to its growing political influence.

“It is the potentials that we have that is attracting all these attacks. All the agencies of government are involved in the destabilisation plot,” Ajaero declared.

He called on authorities to stop meddling in party affairs, insisting that the Labour Party, like its counterparts across the world, should remain under the control of organised labour.

“I call on the government to stop destabiliing workers party. All over the world, Labour Party is organised and ran by trade unions. Over 57 countries have functional Labour Party, why will Nigeria be different? Labour Party is the only party the son of a poor man can become somebody,” he said.

Ajaero also announced plans for a mass sensitisation campaign aimed at repositioning the party and opening its doors to institutional members.

“In the next one month, we will finish with sensitisation. Those who want to join Labour Party should come now, but he should be an institutional person,” he said.

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“The founders of the party owe it a duty to put the party in order. We are not quarrelling with anybody. I sent a letter after the Supreme Court judgement that every worker should be on standby. In the next few days, there will be an action, to take what belong to us.”

However, in a swift rebuttal, the Abure-led Labour Party faction accused Ajaero and the NLC of being the real architects of the party’s internal woes. In a statement signed by the National Publicity Secretary, Obiora Ifoh, the faction rejected any attempt to drag the Federal Government into what it termed “self-inflicted disorder.”

“We must state clearly and categorically that if there is any person or organisation that has destabilised the Labour Party or who is working to destabilise the party, it is no other person than Joe Ajaero and the NLC,” Ifoh said.

He added that the party remained united and peaceful after the 2023 general elections until Ajaero introduced what he described as an unconstitutional Transition Committee.

“It was Ajaero who went ahead to illegally, unprofessionally and unconstitutionally set up a so-called Transition Committee, which went all over the place making noise and debasing the image of the party,” Ifoh stated.

He also criticised the Committee’s activities at the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), describing them as disruptive.

“It was the same Committee set up by Ajaero that was going to INEC every day, constituting nuisance, all in attempt to destabilise the party, mobilising people, including old and retired men, including Abdulwaheed Omar, Ejiofor, Lawson Osagie and Prof Theophilus Ndubaku, men who should be resting after many years of serving their fatherland, to go against the interest of the party,” he said.

The Abure faction called on Ajaero to refocus on his core mandate of fighting for workers’ rights rather than engaging in partisan politics.

“Nigerians all over have asked Ajaero to concentrate on his primary assignment to fight for the welfare of workers,” Ifoh added.

“The regulatory body in charge of the Labour Union in the Ministry of Labour has also publicly admonished Ajaero to excuse himself from matters concerning politics and to face his legitimate assignment as a defender of workers’ interest.”

He concluded by placing the full blame for the party’s current crisis on the NLC.

“If there is any group or persons who have worked against the interest of the Labour Party, it is NLC and Joe Ajaero. So he should not shift the blame to any person, he should squarely take responsibility for whatever is happening in the party today,” he said.

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