Former Labour Leader Warns Against Turning Party Into Capitalist Democracy

A former Chairman of the Nigeria Labour Congress in Enugu State, Comrade Fidelis Ede, says the present ideology of the Labour Party has deviated from its original concept of social democracy.

Ede, who spoke in Enugu, weekend, said the LP was gradually moving towards capitalist democracy. He was reacting to alleged infighting in the party, especially as it concerns the non-auditing of the party’s accounts since after the 2023 general elections.

According to him, “The Labour Party we envisaged when some of us were in NLC is not what it is today. It was social democracy that was dictated by the fact that we were contesting against capitalist democracy. If we continue to make analysis that supports capitalist democracy, it means that we have lost everything about the ideology of the LP as originally conceived by the NLC.

“If we want to talk about social democracy, let us talk about the era of former President of Tanzania, Julius Nyerere. Let us talk about legacies. For instance, how can Mr Peter Obi (presidential candidate of LP in the 2023 elections) talk about ideology when he was elected Anambra governor under the platform of All Progressives Grand Alliance, and he failed to build the party? He later went to the Peoples Democratic Party. Is that the kind of individual we talk about?

“If you apply the same template of godfatherism as found in the PDP and All Progressives Congress, it means that Obi and his cliques are the godfathers of LP. They are protecting the national chairman of the party.”

He called for the alignment of LP’s ideology towards social democracy to be able to provide Nigerians the option they want in the nation’s polity.

In his words, “There is a misalignment as to our understanding of politics, democracy and capitalism. People tend to mix their values forgetting that within democracy, you also have socio-democracy which is where the Labour Party ought to tilt to.

“Social democracy talks about freedom, justice and solidarity. Capitalist democracy which is presently in operation in Nigeria is vested with interest and profit motives. When you look at the dominant interest, you find out that these are usually businessmen who have found themselves in wealth, and they believe that they can bring to bear what they have practised in business, even if corrupt, into what ought to be democracy.

“People tend not to understand the primary motive of capitalist democracy. Its elements include injustice and lack of accountability. This is different from the civil liberty elements and equal opportunity which LP should tilt towards. I do not see how LP that is planning for a convention could not keep to its own constitution. People should be told why the party is yet to conduct its audit since the 2023 elections. It was former Director General of Obi Campaign Organisation, Dr Doyen Okupe, that said they came to Labour because it was an all-purpose vehicle. For him, they have finished the mandate.”