The National Chairman of the Labour Party, LP, Comrade Julius Abure, advised the President of the Nigeria Labour Congress, Comrade Joe Ajaero, not to use the NLC’s platform, funds, and resources to pursue his goal of becoming either the president of Nigeria in 2027 or the governor of Imo State.
Abure made this statement in Asaba, Delta State, on Wednesday in response to the protest by NLC members who demanded his immediate removal as the National Chairman of the Labour Party, leading to the shutdown of the party’s National Headquarters.
He said the “picketing” of the party’s office was politically motivated, describing it as a show of rascality and abuse of office and the laws of the land.
He said: “I must state today that the leadership of NLC under Joe Ajaero is on the part of destroying the successes we have recorded in the 2023 general election.
“I had expected that expected that as a responsible trade union centre, a responsible labour leader number one should have teamed up with Labour Party 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 the part of war against Labour Party. 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 in order to bring 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.”
Abure clarified that Joe Ajaero is not a registered member of the Labour Party. He also stated that the party is not owned by the NLC, despite claims made by the labor union.
He said: “Over the past few years, NLC has been claiming ownership of Labour Party. l must state clearly that NLC is not the owner of Labour Party. The party is not owned by 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 NLC and they don’t have the 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 abuse of the laws of the land.”
