AS the face-off between the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) and the current leadership of the Labour Party (LP), led by its National Chairman, Mr. Julius Abure, over who owns the party, rages, a former NLC president, Ayuba Wabba, contrary to claims by the LP Chairman, Julius Abure, that the party is not answerable to the Congress, has insisted that the party was actually formed by the union as a platform for members exercise and defend their rights.
Wabba, while speaking on a television programme on Thursday, March 21, clarified: “First and foremost, the Labour Party was formed by the NLC, in the realisation of a clear objective in the Constitution of the NLC.
“Under Article 3 and Item 1, the major objective of the NLC is to promote, defend and advance the economic, political and social rights and well-being of Nigerian workers and pensioners.
“We own the Labour Party; it was formed under the leadership of the late Pascal Bafyau, as Party for Social Democracy. Under Adams (Oshiomhole), organs decided to change the name to the Labour Party, and the first chairman was S.O.Z Ejiofor, who later handed over to Dan Nwanyanwu.
“So, the essence of forming the party is to make sure that workers, pensioners, farmers can be able to have a platform to exercise their rights, which is enshrined in Section 40 of the Constitution.
“The party was formed by NLC and registered by NLC. It’s like you built a house, you got a C-of-O, then you rented the apartment, so you must have an interest in how the property is managed.”
Recall that on Wednesday, March 20, NLC stormed the party’s national secretariat to protest against the national convention planned for the end of the month and to demand Abure’s resignation or sack over alleged ‘financial rascality,’ vowing to also picket LP secretariats across the country.
However, the embattled national chairman on Thursday, March 21, insisted that LP does not belong to the NLC, saying: “Over the past few years, the NLC has been claiming ownership of Labour Party.
“l must state clearly that NLC is not the owner of the Labour Party. The party is not owned by the NLC. The law is very clear that you cannot picket an organisation where you do not have your workers. We are not the employers of the NLC and they don’t have the legitimate reason to picket our office. We have no trade union dispute with the NLC. This is clearly an abuse of office and abuse of the laws of the land.
“Let me also state here that the propaganda they have been carrying around that we are planning a secret convention is totally false. The NEC met April 2023 in Asaba and granted the permission that the convention must hold in one year.
“We started planning the convention since then. We communicated to INEC as requested by the law. We have also informed all the stakeholders, including the NLC. I have discussed the issue with Ajaero on several occasions. The NLC on their own has written to INEC on several occasions on the need to hold the convention.
“So, we are surprised that the same NLC is the one that is asking that convention should not hold again. He (Ajaero) has ulterior motives and we will not allow him to hijack the party.”
