LP Crisis Worsens As NLC Orders Nationwide Protest Against Julius Abure

The dispute between the Labour Party and the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) deepened Wednesday as the chairperson of the NLC Political Commission, Titus Amba, and the secretary, Chris Uyot, ordered the picketing of the party secretariats nationwide.

The decision followed a resolution at the end of the NLC National Political Commission virtual meeting with the leadership of NLC’s state councils and state political committees on Tuesday, March 19, 2024.

Recall that Amba and Uyot in a jointly signed statement on Friday, March 15, 2024, accused LP’s National Chairman, Julius Abure, and the party’s National Working Committee of proposing a ‘secret’ national convention in Umuahia, Abia State capital, on March 27, to re-elect Abure to continue running the Labour Party as a ‘sole administrator.’

But the crisis worsened 24hrs later when the Labour Party responded in a statement by its National Publicity Secretary, Obiora Ifoh, titled ‘Resign as NLC President to Contest LP Chairmanship, Labour Party advises Joe Ajero,’ noting that the party will not take orders from unionists who are not card-carrying members of their party.

The party statement partly read, “Unfortunately, the rascality of the current president of the NLC, Joe Ajero, has destroyed the successes already recorded. It must be noted that the NLC and its political commission have become a bundle of contradiction and paradox. The Nigeria Labour Congress has written several letters to the Independent National Electoral Commission and the party on the need to conduct a national convention.

“At this point, the party’s leadership wants to ask the NLC, what exactly do they want? If Joe Ajero is interested in the party’s leadership, he is therefore advised to resign as the President of the NLC and join in the contest for the National Chairmanship of the party that is scheduled for the convention on the 27th of March, 2024”.

Ifoh also reiterated that the Planned March 27 election cannot be stopped.

In its defence, the NLC at the end of the virtual meeting decided that “Given the intransigence of the National Chairman of the Labour Party to unilaterally hold a National Convention of the Labour Party, financial rascality and contempt for the leadership of the NLC, the NLC State Councils and State Political Committees should mobilise workers to picket all the State Secretariats of the Labour Party, scheduled for Wednesday, 20th March 2024.

“Given the soon-to-be-held all-inclusive national convention of the Labour Party, the NLC State Councils and the NLC Political Committees should immediately embark on a statewide mobilisation of workers to join the NLC Political Commission and the Labour Party.

“The NLC State Council and State Political Committees should work with our civil society allies, students, traders, and professionals to ensure that the picketing and mobilisation are successfully executed,” the Tuesday directive concluded”.