Again, Protesters Allege Marginalisation of Delegates, Threaten to Disrupt NLC Elections

Congress insists polls must hold

Damilola Oyedele Crises have continued to rock the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) as some of its members yesterday protested what they described as a deliberate marginalisation of delegates from the South-east and the South-south geo-political zones of the country.

The protesters said unless the inequitable distribution of the delegates is addressed before the rescheduled elections today, they would not allow it to hold.

The National Executive Committee of the NLC had rescheduled the truncated elections from its 11th delegate conference in February for March 12, following disruptions by some aggrieved members who alleged the conduct of the elections were being manipulated to favour certain candidates.

The protesters alleged that the distribution of delegates was deliberately tilted to favour one of the aspirants for president, Mr. Ayuba Wabba, who would be contesting against the General Secretary of the National Union of Electricity Workers (NUEE), Mr. Joe Ajaero.

Bearing placards with inscriptions like ‘Nigerian Civil Service Union, not Northern Civil Service Union’, ‘Ayuba Wabba, Tenure Elongation,’ ‘NLC has lost its Voice,’ ‘Where are the tags for over 200 South-east delegates’ and others, the protesters marched the streets from the front of the Akwa Ibom House to the headquarters of the NLC, a few metres away.

Some of the protesters wore T-shirts labelling them as members of the Medical and Health Workers Union of Nigeria, which is chaired by Wabba.

The leader of the protesters, Osmond Ogwu, who claimed to be a member of the Nigeria Civil Service Union, Enugu State chapter, said there ought to be 131 delegates from his union in the South-east, but that only one was accredited as delegate at the truncated elections.

He further alleged that other delegates from the South-south were being monitored to ensure that they vote for a favoured candidate.

“We have two demands, NLC should re-schedule the elections and address these grievances, there must be fair distribution of delegates. If not, we are ready to battle, just as we battled and stopped the last elections, just like we disrupted the last one.

“...That nobody should be gagged during the election process. If delegates cannot cast their votes according to their will, then how can we talk about Nigeria’s elections? MHWUN had over 500 delegates, but only five persons from Enugu.

“If we don’t do this right, we cannot question our democracy. NLC does not belong to anybody, all of us are stakeholders. NLC and its leadership must be called to order,” he said, urging on by the protesters.

On why the state chairmen of the protesting unions are not part of the protest, Ogwu alleged that the chairmen had been intimidated by the current leadership of NLC who would “dissolve their councils and sanction them if they protest.”

According to Ogwu, Wabba engineered the process that paved the way for the marginalisation of delegates from the South-east and South-south.

He added that the protest did not happen before the aborted elections because the irregularities were observed just before the delegate conference.

Addressing the protesters, the General. Secretary of the NLC, Dr. Peter Ozo Esan, said the rescheduled elections would go ahead as the congress would not be held to ransom.

“Let me clearly state that this is a sad day in the life of the NLC. We pride ourselves as a pan-national movement, we have never heard of zone this, zone that, and this is not the first time the NLC is conducting elections. The people who have brought the congress into disrepute, history will judge them appropriately.

“There are interests for not making this election happen. In the spirit of full disclosure, we have received complaints that monies are being shared, that some of the contestants are wiping up sentiments. If this is true, those people are not worthy of being called activists,” he added.

Ozo-Esan flanked by the Deputy General Secretary of the NLC, Chris Uyot, and other officials, said each union was asked to submit its list of delegates ahead of the election which procedures followed the stipulations of the NLC constitution.

He explained further that the number of delegates was allotted per union, within a stipulated time frame for submission of list of delegates to the national headquarters. There is also stipulated time for any observed irregularity to be brought before the congress, he added.

The section of the NLC constitution which allows for grievances to be aired and addressed cannot be used to hold the congress to ransom and demand that elections do not hold, Ozo-Esan noted.

“The constituted authority is NEC and NEC has said the elections would hold, and we will do so. Any union that wants to boycott the elections is free to do so. No union can hold the congress to ransom. This election will hold,” he emphasised.

Meanwhile, THISDAY gathered that some of the protesters were hired, and are not union members. Observing the proceedings before the protest started at about 11.30a.m., four buses conveyed the ‘protesters’ mostly young men clad in jeans and muscles straining against tight tee-shirts. Soon after they arrived there union shirts were distributed to them. THISDAY asked one of the men what union he belonged to, and he said he was just hired to ‘come and work’. A male reporter who was casually dressed was advised by one of the young men to ‘talk’ to the leader of the protesters, so he, the reporter, can also be hired.

At the end of the protest, which terminated at the Labour House, THISDAY observed that some of the protesters were sharing cash.

Fresh allegations have surfaced that the current President, Abdulwahed Omar, may be bent on ensuring that Wabba is elected because of an agreement reached between the duo before the 10th delegate conference of 2011 where Omar prevailed on Wabba not to contest against him.