Many believe it was a devastated Comrade Abdulwaheed Omar, the immediate past president of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), that was trying to defend the indefensible, especially the intrusion of obscene politics, into the ‘family politics’ of the NLC, which recently culminated in the emergence of two rival factions of the leadership of the central labour body in the country. We have the Comrade Ayuba Wabba of the Medical and Health Workers Union of Nigeria (MHWUN), who was declared the new NLC president in Abuja penultimate Saturday faction and that of Joe Ajaero of the National Union of Electricity Employees (NUEE), elected into the same position in Lagos last Thursday. Both Wabba and Ajaero are now laying claims to the national leadership of the body. Of the 43 unions affiliated to the NLC, Wabba is controlling 18, while Ajaero is enjoying the support of 23.
“What I do know is that elections of the NLC always come with lots of interest from different stakeholders, particularly government. One of the major reasons we decided to draw our election back (to hold it before the national election) was to lessen the level of interference, especially from government”, was how Omar reportedly reacted to the NLC’s debacle. He cannot fool Nigerians. It was obvious that a break-up of NLC was brewing, particularly after its first scandalous Delegates’ Conference held in Abuja on February 12, 2015 that ended up in a free-for-all, with some delegates shredding ballot papers and destroying ballot boxes following allegations of election irregularities and the production of multiple ballot papers to favour a particular candidate.
Recall that the Omar-led NLC invited President Goodluck Jonathan, who was represented by the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Senator Anyim Pius Anyim and the Minister of Labour and Productivity, Mr. Kabiru Tanimu Turaki, to the botched February conference. Also invited was former NLC President, Comrade Adams Oshiomhole, now Edo State Governor, who not only physically graced the occasion, but did so accompanied by General Muhammadu Buhari, the All Progressives Congress’ (APC) presidential candidate. Aired live on the Africa Independent Television (AIT), the event provided ample opportunity for the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and the opposition APC to shop for votes. Perhaps more importantly, it buttressed an NLC balkanised along partisan lines.
Omar was absolutely right when he made reference to government’s interference in NLC elections. But he sounded hypocritical when he suggested that the NLC decided to hold its own poll before the nation’s general elections purportedly to lessen government’s interference. It was, nonetheless, fair enough that the NLC invited the ruling party as well as the opposition for the sake of balance. But the union had better options which it should have explored because of the political mood of the nation and for strategic reasons.
One is not extending invitation at all to the Federal Government and the opposition APC. The other is inviting them on the condition that they attend strictly as mere observers with no privilege of speech making. But Omar and the team that organised the first NLC poll did nothing of such, and thus turned the delegates’ conference into a campaign shop for both the PDP and APC, and by extension a battle field for rival partisan factions of the NLC. The bitterness and acrimony carried over from the first congress must have sustained the antagonisms which cumulative effect is the splinter leadership that now exists in the labour house. The first time the NLC had its ranks divided was in 1978 when a similar delegates’ conference held at the popular Saidi Centre in Benin, the Edo State capital, produced the Comrade Takaya Shammag and Comrade Ali Chiroma factions.
With the shameful spectacle that the NLC factionalised leadership now represents, on what credible moral pedigree can the union stand to challenge any government in power for perpetrating electoral frauds and other atrocities? The answer is none! In truth, the NLC as a body has lost the strength to bargain and fight for the collective welfare of Nigerian workers. It is, therefore, very imperative that the rival factions quickly find ways of resolving their differences so as to forge one strong and united leadership. Using the law court to do just that might not be a bad idea. The alternative will be a two faction leadership that may end up as mere tools in the hands of the Federal Government in industrial relations matters. Worse still, the two factions will be a huge disappointment to Nigerian workers.
