Ajaero emerges factional president of NLC

The General Secretary of National Union of Electricity Employees (NUEE) Comrade Joe Ajearo has been elected factional President of the Nigerian Labour Congress (NLC). He was reportedly elected yesterday in Lagos by over 18 unions opposed to the outcome of an election conducted last week at the end of the 11th Delegates Conference of the […]

The General Secretary of National Union of Electricity Employees (NUEE) Comrade Joe Ajearo has been elected factional President of the Nigerian Labour Congress (NLC).
He was reportedly elected yesterday in Lagos by over 18 unions opposed to the outcome of an election conducted last week at the end of the 11th Delegates Conference of the NLC in Abuja which saw Comrade Ayuba Wabba emerge as president after voting by 3,119 delegates from 43 affiliate unions.
Ajaero and others who vied for positions and lost described the process as a sham.
Those elected at the Lagos election include Issa Aremu, deputy president, Igwe Achese, second deputy president and Kasumu Kadiri, vice president.
The faction had earlier planned to hold the elections tomorrow.
The aggrieved unions that were part of the Lagos polls are: National Union of Electricity Employees (NUEE), National Union of Petroleum & National Gas (NUPENG), National Union of Textile Garment and Tailoring Workers of Nigeria (NUTGTWN), National Union of Banks, Insurance and Financial Institution Employees (NUBIFIE), Metal Products Senior Staff Association of Nigeria (MEPROSSAN), National Union of Post and Telecommunication Employees (NUPTE) and National Union of Printing, Publishing and Paper Products Workers (NUPPROW).
Others are National Union of Shop and Distributive Employees (NUSDE), Nigeria Union of Civil Service Secretariat Stenographic Workers, Nigeria Union of Mine Workers (NUMW), Nigeria Union of Railway Workers (NUR), Steel & Engineering Workers Union of Nigeria (SEWUN), Iron & Steel Senior Staff Association of Nigeria (ISSAN), Association of Senior Staff of Banks, Insurance and financial Institution (ASSBIFI), Nigeria Welders and Filters Association, Academic Staff Union of Research Institutions, Parliamentary Staff Association of Nigeria and the Lottery Workers Union.
However, both the newly elected NLC president Comrade Wabba and General Secretary Comrade Peter Ozo-Eson have described the Lagos activity as an exercise in nullity, insisting there was no faction in the congress.
In his acceptance speech, Ajaero promised to turn around the NLC in the interest of workers and the generality of Nigerians, saying his emergence was a watershed in the history of congress. He promised to justify the confidence reposed in him by workers.
Claiming that over 20 unions participated in the process that led to his emergence, Ajaero said the administration of immediate past president of the NLC, Comrade Abdulwahed Omar failed in all ramifications.
In an exclusive interview with Daily Trust, Wabba said his election was free and fair as attested to by labour veterans, stakeholders and even government’s regulatory agencies that were in attendance.  
“They (Ajaero group) know the conference was free, fair and credible. Why are they interested in causing confusion instead of working for the interests of the congress and Nigeria as a whole? The fact that Hassan Sunmonu (pioneer NLC president) in the presence of elders and national leaders of the NLC swore us in was even enough on the credibility of the process. We would not be deterred,” he said.
Incidentally, a meeting of the National Administrative Council (NAC) of the NLC had yesterday under the leadership of Wabba resolved to set up a reconciliatory committee to woo the aggrieved members back into its fold.
A text message to Aremu on the peace moves being initiated by the NLC was not returned as at the time of filing this report.
On his part, Ozo-Eson, General Secretary of the NLC reiterated that elections had been concluded, warning the general public to take note and not deal with its “former officers.”  
Speaking on the faction, he said “which NLC? People are engaging in illegality and forgery; that is their choice. In any case, the NLC has concluded its delegates’ conference and leaders were elected.”
Daily Trust recalls that the NLC had on Wednesday sent a memo to all industrial unions in the country as well as its state council chairmen, detailing the outcome of its elections and a disclaimer on attempts by “former officers of congress who lost in the last election” to convene another election.
The memo signed by Ozo-Eson, listed the names of winners of the elections, saying in spite of the outcome, a communiqué purportedly arrived at, at the end of an emergency meeting of the Central Working Committee and the National Executive Council was issued by the defeated candidates.
According to the memo, “the said communiqué was signed by Joe Ajaero, General Secretary National Union of Electricity Employees (NUEE)/former Deputy President, of NLC; Igwe Achese, President National Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas (NUPENG)/former Trustee NLC; and Issa Aremu General Secretary National Union of Textile, Garments and Tailoring Workers of Nigeria (NUTGTWN) /Former Vice President, of NLC (together hereinafter referred to as “the trio”).”
The memo said “The trio has now decided to convene a Special Delegates Conference purportedly of NLC on Saturday, March 21, 2015, at an undisclosed location in Lagos purportedly to elect new members of the National Administrative Council of NLC.
“Incidentally by Article 9 of the extant Constitution of the NLC, the National Administrative Council is composed of all elected National Officers, General Secretary, Deputy General Secretary, All Heads of Departments, among others.
“The purpose of this letter is to inform and alert all industrial unions affiliated to the Nigeria Labour Congress and their members, statutory regulatory institutions, employers of labour both in the public and private sectors as well as the general public that they should be wary and do not fall prey to the current inordinate and misguided antics of the trio led so-called ‘NLC’ as their actions are clearly unlawful, unconstitutional, a nullity and therefore unsustainable…”