Former President of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NKC)Ayuba Wabba has clarified that the Labour Party was formed by the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) as a platform for members of the union to exercise and defend their rights.
This is in response to the claims by the LP Chairman, Julius Abure, that the party is not owned nor answerable to the Congress.
The Matrix reports that on Wednesday, NLC stormed the party’s national secretariat, to protest the LP’s national convention planned for the end of the month, and to demand the sacking of the party’s Chairman.
The Labour Party had posited that claims that NLC owns the Labour Party is not in any way supported by either the Electoral Act or the Constitution and that a political party is owned by those who are card-carrying or financial members of the party.
“We are aware that more than 90 percent of the members of the NLC have not met this condition and therefore, cannot claim to be the owners of the party. The constitution also provides that no organisation can own any other organisation. The NLC as an organisation can therefore not claim the ownership of the Labour Party” Labour Party had claimed in a statement.
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However, Wabba, who was the immediate past president of the congress, weighed in on the crisis between the union and the party.
“First and foremost, the Labour Party was formed by the NLC, in the realisation of a clear objective in the Constitution of the NLC. Under Article 3 and Item 1, the major objective of the NLC is to promote, defend and advance the economic, political, and social rights and well-being of Nigerian workers and pensioners.
“We own the Labour Party; it was formed under the leadership of Pascal Bafyau, as Party for Social Democracy. Under Adams, organs decided to change the name to the Labour Party, and the first chairman was S.O.Z Ejiofor who later handed over to Dan Anyanwu.
“So, the essence of forming the party is to make sure that workers, pensioners, farmers, can be able to have a platform to exercise their rights, which is enshrined in Section 40 of the Constitution. The party was formed by NLC, and registered by NLC. It’s like you built a house, you got a C-of-O, then you rented the apartment, so you must have an interest in how the property is managed” Wabba who appeared as a guest on Channels Television’s Politics Today on Thursday countered LP.
