Battle for the Soul of Labour Party
Chuks Okocha takes a critical look at the claims and counter claims by critical stakeholders laying claims to the soul of the Labour Party.
The Labour Party and the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) are two different and separate organisations. The Labour party was registered as a political party, while the NLC is not.
Rather, NLC is a pressure group in line with provisions of the International Labour Organisation (ILO) to basically cater for the welfare of workers and to coordinate all issues relating to workers welfare.
But for obvious reasons, the Labour Party and NLC have been having a symbiotic relationship claiming affiliation to each other.
By the way, the relationship between the Labour party in Nigeria and the NLC is certainly not the same with the Labour Congress and Labour Party in the United Kingdom or the All Nigeria Congress (ANC) in South Africa.
NLC has over the years engaged in a war of attrition with Labour party. They were in fact managing the crisis until recently when it became a show of public shame.
The crisis came to a head recently when the NLC under the leadership of Comrade Joe Ajaero directed the picketing of the Labour Party’s National Headquarters in Abuja and its other offices across the country.
The NLC claimed to be owners of the party and therefore wanted to dictate to the leadership of the party as well as assert overwhelming political control over the party.
But, according to the INEC guidelines for the registration of political parties, a party is seemed to be registered by INEC if it becomes a body corporate with a perpetual succession and a common seal. For example, a letter dated September 3, 2015 from INEC to NLC stated most explicitly that the NLC has no superior status.
Also, “Section 77 of the Electoral Act 2022 provides that, a political party once registered has a life of its own and it is only regulated by its constitution”.
It is imperative to note that by the import of the above provisions, whatever part or any role played whatsoever in the registration of the party becomes immaterial. The party will thereafter be regulated by its constitution.