LP to NLC: You lack power to sack Abure-led NWC

The Labour Party national leadership on Tuesday warned the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) to stay away from the party.

The warning followed a resolution taken by the NLC Political Commission at a stakeholders’ meeting on Monday in Abuja.

The congress had during the meeting nullified the March 27 national convention that returned the LP National Chairman, Julius Abure and other members of the NWC.

The NLC had earlier demanded Abure’s resignation and the immediate constitution of a caretaker transition committee to organise a legitimate and all-inclusive national convention for the party.

In a statement issued by its National Publicity Secretary, Obiora Ifoh, the LP described the meeting as an illegal assembly of a handful of aggrieved former members and some “social media tigers” who are not card-carrying members of the party.

The party declared that the labour union lacks the powers to sack the Abure-led NWC.

The statement read: “The Political Commission of the NLC is a front for Comrade Joe Ajaero which he has empowered for his political ambition come 2027. The group is unknown to the Labour Party and as such lacks powers to convene a meeting of ‘stakeholders’ to deliberate, let alone take any decision which will have a binding effect on a legally constituted party leadership.

READ ALSO: NLC voids convention that returned Abure as LP chairman

“The group has been mandated by Ajaero to ensure that crisis in Labour Party festers ahead of 2027 by presenting itself as a rallying ground for dissident former members of our party, who recently lost the leadership battle in the courts. We are also not unmindful of the political pact the leadership of the NLC has gone into with the current All Progressives Congress-led Federal Government to destabilize the opposition.

“This explains why in quick succession all their plots to hijack the party leadership failed. First, it was by illegal picketing of the party when that failed, it attempted to introduce and inaugurate a non-existing Board of Trustees that also failed. Again, the attempted plot to take over the party using stakeholder meetings comprising former members, social media tigers and non-members will fall like a pack of cards.

“It is pertinent to add that Nigerians are suffering under the harsh economic conditions of the current government. Workers and the downtrodden are at the receiving end. As we speak, there are unfair workers’ practices perpetuated by employers but the Nigerian Labour Congress has failed to take proactive roles to fight for the rights of workers.

“We want to remind Comrade Joe Ajaero that he has a lot of work to do for the Nigerian workers, which he is abdicating to face politics. This is why we previously advised that he should first resign as NLC President if he wants to join politics.”

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