Following the picketing of his organisation’s offices on Wednesday, National Chairman of the Labour Party (LP), Julius Abure, has cautioned the President of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), Joe Ajaero, against using the structure, funds and resources of workers’ movement to pursue any 2027 elections to be the country’s President or Imo State Governor.
Speaking in Asaba, Delta State, on Wednesday, Abure said Ajaero, being not a registered member of the party, lacked the right to picket LP’s National Secretariat.
He went on to mock Ajaero as an NLC President who had failed to organise a successful strike, protest or picketing against government over the welfare of workers.
NLC had shut down the party’s national headquarters in Abuja, in a protest to demand for Abure’s removal as National Chairman.
Emphasising that the party was not owned by NLC, Abure said: “I must state today that the leadership of NLC under Joe Ajaero is on the path of destroying the successes we have recorded in the 2023 general elections.
“I had 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 path of war against Labour Party.
“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.
“The party is not owned by NLC,” Abure declared.
According to Abure, NLC had violated extant laws related to labour disputes by its action of Wednesday.
He said: “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.”
