The Labour Party (LP) has strongly condemned the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) over its directive to mobilise members for a nationwide takeover of LP offices, describing the move as subtle blackmail aimed at discrediting the party’s leadership before the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) and security agencies.
In a statement issued on Wednesday in Abuja, the party’s National Publicity Secretary, Obiora Ifoh, warned that the Julius Abure-led National Working Committee (NWC) will not tolerate what it called acts of hooliganism and intimidation from the NLC under the leadership of Comrade Joe Ajaero.
The reaction comes on the heels of a directive issued by Ajaero on Tuesday, instructing union leaders to begin mobilising workers to take control of the Labour Party’s 36 state offices and its national secretariat. This move follows last Friday’s Supreme Court ruling, which reversed a lower court’s judgment involving the party’s internal leadership crisis.
Ifoh maintained that the NLC’s threat lacks legal grounds and amounts to political interference. “Ordinarily, we would have ignored that threat, but there is a need to assure our teeming members that we remain committed to the cause and will resist all forms of rascality and intimidation,” he said.
According to Ifoh, the NLC has no legal basis to invade Labour Party offices, noting that the Trade Dispute Act only permits picketing or strikes in the context of a valid trade dispute. “There is no such dispute here. The NLC has no staff in our employment, and there is no union operating in our offices,” he clarified.
Referencing a previous incident on March 21, 2024, Ifoh alleged that NLC operatives had broken into the LP headquarters, carting away sensitive documents and other valuables — an act the party reported to the police.
“The threats and actual attacks on our offices have become a disturbing hallmark of the Ajaero-led NLC,” Ifoh said, accusing the union leader of politicising the labour movement. He called on Ajaero to resign from unionism and venture fully into politics.
Citing the Supreme Court judgment, Ifoh reiterated that the judiciary affirmed that internal matters of political parties lie outside court jurisdiction. “The court did not dissolve the NWC, nor did it declare its tenure expired,” he said, urging Ajaero to consult legal experts if he struggles to interpret the court’s ruling.
The Labour Party stated it would seek protection from security agencies and is prepared to mobilise its members nationwide should the NLC carry out its threat.
“We will take all legal steps available to us, and if necessary, petition the Registrar of Trade Unions to take disciplinary action against the NLC leadership,” Ifoh concluded.
This standoff deepens the ongoing rift between the LP and the NLC, a relationship once seen as unified by their shared advocacy for workers’ rights and social justice.
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