The Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) established the Labour Party as a platform for its members to exercise and safeguard their rights.
According to former NLC President Ayuba Wabba, this contradicts the statement made by the LP Chairman, Julius Abure, who asserted that the party is not accountable to the Congress.
Wabba shared his perspective on the conflict between the union and the party during his appearance on Thursday’s episode of Channels Television’s Politics Today.
“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,” he stated.
“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.”
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.