The Nigeria Labour Congress(NLC) on Wednesday directed its members to mobilise ahead of taking over the offices of the Labour Party (LP) nationwide following the Supreme Court ruling that sacked Julius Abure as National Chairman of the party.
In a statement by its President, Joe Ajaero, the NLC directed the LP National Executive Committee (NEC) to appoint an interim leadership which will conduct an inclusive Special National Convention for the party in line with the provisions of the LP Constitution and the consent judgement.
According to the statement: “To resolve the leadership vacuum in the Labour Party, the surviving institutional members of the LP National Executive Committee (NEC) are expected to appoint an interim leadership which will conduct an inclusive Special National Convention for the party in line with the provisions of the LP Constitution and the consent judgement. Any step outside these constitutional procedures will be an affront to the rule of law and would be tantamount to an unmitigable assault on constitutional rule. Such mischief will be stoutly resisted by Nigerian workers and people.
“We use this medium to put every Nigerian worker, Labour Party members and patriotic citizens on alert. We will no longer condone the antics of inconsequential characters like Mr. Julius Abure whose only relevance is their availability for mischief and inanity at the behest of silhouettes in the corridors of power.
“The Supreme Court is one of the most enduring institutions and beacons of not only the rule of law but our sovereignty as a country. Nigerian workers and people, especially genuine members of the Labour Party will not sit back and watch unscrupulous elements desecrate Nigeria’s laws and the well-founded judgement of the Supreme Court.
”If we fail to take action, it means that we have accepted the complete deconstruction of the institutions of state and the desecration of the shared values that bind all of us as one people under constitutional rule.
“As authentic Labour Party leaders known to all Nigerians continue to take steps to recover and reposition the party as the vehicle for the emancipation of the Nigerian masses, we wish to warn that characters like Julius Abure should advise themselves to recuse themselves from the path of complete self-destruction they have embarked upon through their headless and heedless affront to the judgment of the Supreme Court that has swept their existence into oblivion. Just as we warned him about a year ago that Nigerian workers and genuine members of the Labour Party will always collect what belongs to them no matter how long a mischief lasts.
“By this communication, we urge every worker in Nigeria, all genuine members of the Labour Party and all lovers of democracy to be on standby to once again peacefully repossess all offices of the Labour Party nationwide. The leadership of the NLC Political Commission and other concerned Labour Party stakeholders will issue necessary directives to this effect.”
The foremost labour movement put the nation’s security agencies, especially the Nigeria Police Force and the Department of State Services (DSS) on notice, saying that they have a constitutional duty to enable and enforce the judgement of the Supreme Court.
It also urged the Independent National Electoral Commission to remove every insignia of Abure and his National Working Committee from its portals.
Said the statement: “We are also putting all the security agencies, especially the Nigeria Police Force and the State Security Service on notice that they have a constitutional duty to enable and enforce the judgement of the Supreme Court. We expect their cooperation as we pursue the rule of law. Any action to the contrary, will present our dear country as a banana republic.
“Finally, we call on the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) which had always pleaded alignment with the pronouncement of the court of law in the leadership issues in the Labour Party to give full effect to the conclusive judgment of the Supreme Court by removing every insignia of Mr. Julius Abure and his National Working Committee from its portals.”
