Comrade Joe Ajaero, the president of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), said that the NLC owes no one an explanation for supporting Peter Obi in the 2023 elections. He added that, in contrast to other political parties in Nigeria, the Labour Party has given the average Nigerian a platform on which to realise their political aspirations.
In an interview with TVC on Tuesday, Ajaero noted that labour leaders have always been involved in politics and that there is no law prohibiting such activity. He also stated that Comrade Adams Oshiomhole founded the current Labour Party.
The NLC president emphasised that the push for strike action is not motivated by a political prejudice against the current government in power while responding to a question about why the congress seems to be more aggressive than the Trade Union Congress (TUC) in requesting a strike.
Joe Ajaero added that the NLC’s demand following the removal of fuel subsidy by the administration of President Bola Tinubu does not have any political undertone. He also refuted rumours that the union is pushing for a strike due to its political affiliation with the Labour Party (LP) and its presidential candidate, Peter Obi.
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The Labour leader who insisted that the NLC is not in charge of the Labour party said: “You wanted the NLC to be apolitical? because the NLC from day one has been forming political parties. From around 1918, there was a political party. In 1945. Michael Imodu and others formed a political party. In the 1960s, Imodu and Ekong formed another political party which was disrupted by the civil war. In 87, Pascal Abafia and others formed a political party.
“The current Labour Party you are seeing was formed by Adams Oshiomhole in 2003 and it has been on till we met it. We don’t have any apology for having a political party because the two existing political parties can not accommodate us.
“Tell the people that are saying this of our affiliation; it is only in Labour Party that the son of a mechanic or a mechanic can run for election and I want to challenge you to prove that even the current National Assembly people who are okada riders through the Labour Party are there and it is a forum for us.
“So if anybody is talking of political affiliation, we don’t have any sympathy for it. All over the world, we have Labour Party.”
