Politics
NLC, LP In Battle Royale Over Party Convention
The supremacy fight between the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) and Labour Party (LP) continued on Wednesday, with the union picketing the headquarters and secretariats of the party nationwide, insisting that the national chairman, Julius Abure, quit office.
But the party in a swift reaction, described the forcible entry of NLC members into its headquarters and secretariats as illegal and criminal.
Speaking when workers occupied the Labour Party headquarters in Abuja, the Deputy President of NLC Political Commission, Dr Theophilus Ndubuaku, said the picketing was to express workers’ grievances towards Abure’s administration of the party.
He said: “Nigeria is not the only country that has a Labour Party backed by Organised Labour. There are so many others. Why would our own be different?
“The essence of registering a Labour Party in this country is not only to become a president or hold an office but also to create a viable opposition and any country where there is no viable opposition, then there would be dictatorship. The reason we set up this party is to make us have good governance in this country.”
While faulting the alleged unilateral convocation of national convention without consulting the relevant stakeholders, the NLC stated further: “There has been court judgements declaring labour party as being owned by the NLC and there has been intervention by INEC telling Abure to appoint BOT members and organize all-inclusive convention.
“But what we now saw is a convention that we do not know who and who are going to be at that convention and the elected officers in the National Assembly thought he insulted them.
“You will not believe that a day before Abure issued the notice of the convention, he was with the NLC president and the political commission in the NLC office without telling them.
“All we are saying is that we do not want Abure, he should resign and go. He cannot be the sole administrator of Labour Party.”
Also speaking, the acting General Secretary of NLC, Comrade Bello Ismail, said the commission had been engaging Abure, thinking he was following due process,
“We were also thinking he was going to organise a convention, in line with the understanding with Labour to have an all-inclusive convention but Abure, knowing that he can never survive an all-inclusive convention wanted to do a convention in the night.
“Those in the NLC Political Commission have done a lot of efforts to reach this state of taking over our party by ourselves. We would insist that all democratic norms are fulfilled. We will insist that workers take back their party.
“We want a convention where we are all the stakeholders and we are very active and all will participate.
“We do not want a convention where one man will hand pick the officers of the party. We want a convention where, in the 37 states of the federation, all stakeholders, including workers, youths, young people, informal workers can have a say in the party.
“We are not money people, but we have a voice and we want a party where, without money, we can participate, and that is what Labour Party offers.
“Now, it is in the hands of this usurper, he is looking for N30 million, N40 million, and so on to buy forms, excluding the people who founded the party. Enough is enough, Abure must go,” he said.
Meanwhile, the National Publicity Secretary of Labour Party, Obiora Ifoh, said the party was appalled by the desperation exhibited by the NLC President, Joe Ajaero.
Ifoh said: “The party notes that the President of the NLC, Comrade Joe Ajaero’s greed and inordinate ambition have pushed him into losing every sense of discretion and decency in his recent conducts, be it in his affairs with the workers or even the government.
“As a party, we wonder how Ajaero would lead a band of lawless persons who are known to have partisan interests in other major political parties such as the PDP and APC against a recognized independent political party.
“Ajaero’s continuous claim that NLC owns the Labour Party is not in any way supported by either the Electoral Act or the Constitution.
“For his information, 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.”
On Wednesday, the House of Representatives passed, through a second reading, a bill seeking to retain immunity for the Office of the President and remove immunity from the Vice President, the Governors and the Deputy Governors.
The bill was one of the 42 considered and passed through the second reading stage during plenary presided over by the Deputy Speaker, Mr Benjamin Kalu, in Abuja.
Sponsored by Hon. Solomon Bob (Rivers PDP), the bill is seeking the amendment of Section 308 of the 1999 Constitution to guard against abuse of office and to ensure transparency in governance.
The long title of the proposed legislation read: “A Bill for an Act to alter the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999, to qualify the immunity conferred on the President, remove the immunity conferred on the Vice President, the Governors and their deputies, in order to curb corruption, eradicate impunity and enhance accountability in public office and for related matters.”
Key amendments include changes to Section 308 of the Constitution, which currently grants immunity to the president, vice president, governors, and deputy governors while in office.
The proposed bill will amend subsection 3 to ensure that immunity only applies to the President and the vice president when acting as President under Section 145 of the Constitution.
Additionally, a new subsection 4 will be introduced to make the immunity clause inapplicable if the office holder is acting in an unofficial capacity, engaging in actions beyond the powers of the office, or involved in criminal conduct.
“The bill seeks to foster transparency and strengthen the fight against corruption by making public officials more accountable for their actions, both in and out of office.”
“Section 308 of the principal Act is amended by:(a) substituting a new subsection (3) as follows: “(3) This section applies to a person holding the office of the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria and the Vice President only when acting as President, in line with Section 145 of this Constitution.
Creating sub section (4) thereto as follows:”(4) The foregoing provisions of this section shall be inapplicable where the person to whom this section applies is acting in an unofficial capacity or where the conduct of the person is beyond the powers of his office or the conduct is criminal in nature.
“This Bill may be cited as the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria (Alteration) Act 2024.
The bill is currently awaiting further debate and consideration by the National Assembly.
The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has written to notify Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan, the senator representing Kogi Central, about the petition by constituents seeking her recall from the national assembly.
INEC said it has also received the contact details of the petitioners.
“Pursuant to section 69 of the constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999, as amended, I write to notify you of the receipt of a petition from representatives of registered voters in your constituency seeking your recall from the senate.
“The notification is in line with the provisions of clause 2 (a) of the Commission’s Regulations and Guidelines for Recall 2024.
“This letter is also copied to the presiding officer of the senate and simultaneously published on the commission’s website. Thank you”, the letter read.
The letter was signed by Ruth Oriaran Anthony, secretary to the commission.
Meanwhile, in a statement issued on Wednesday, INEC said it has now received the updated contact details from representatives of petitioners seeking to recall the senator.
In the statement, Sam Olumekun, INEC’s National Commissioner and Chairman of Information and Voter Education, said a letter notifying the senator of the petition has been delivered to her official address, copied to the senate presiding officer, and published on the commission’s website.
“The next step is to scrutinise the list of signatories submitted by the petitioners to ascertain that the petition is signed by more than one half (over 50%) of the registered voters in the constituency. This will be done in the coming days.
“The outcome, which will be made public, shall determine the next step to be taken by the Commission. We once again reassure Nigerians that the process will be open and transparent”, Mr Olumekun said.
Sen. Akpoti-Uduaghan had recently accused Senate President Godswill Akpabio of sexually harassing her.
The allegation came in the wake of seating arrangement related altercation between Senator. Akpabio and the Kogi Central senator at the red chamber
She was subsequently suspended from the senate for six months for “gross misconduct” over the incident.
The constituents behind the recall move also accused her of “gross misconduct, abuse of office, and deceitful behaviour”.
The senator has denied wrongdoing and called the recall effort a “coordinated suppression” of her voice.
The House of Representatives on Wednesday passed the second reading of a bill to upgrade the Lagos State 37 Local Council Development Areas (LCDAs) to full-fledged Local Government Areas (LGAs ).
The bill, was sponsored by James Faleke, Babajimi Benson, Enitan Badru, and 19 other lawmakers.
The bill is titled “A Bill for an Act to Alter the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999 (as amended) to Accommodate the Thirty-Seven (37) Development Area Councils of Lagos State as Full-Fledged Local Government Areas, Increasing the Total Number of Local Government Areas in the Federation to Eight Hundred and Eleven (811), and for Related Matters (HB. 1498),”
Once fully enacted, Nigeria’s total number of LGAs will rise from 774 to 811, with Lagos overtaking Kano and Katsina, which currently have 44 and 34 LGAs, respectively.
Proponents of the bill argue that granting full LGA status to the LCDAs would bring governance closer to the people. The 37 LCDAs were created by President Bola Tinubu in 2003 when he was governor of Lagos State.
However, it’s worth noting that the Lagos State House of Assembly has been working on a bill to replace the 37 LCDAs with newly designated administrative areas.