The organised labour has debunked the belief that the presidential candidate of the Labour Party (LP), Peter Obi does not have a structure ahead of the 2023 elections.
Reacting to theories by critics that Obi only has social media presence but lacks any political structure in the real world, the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) stated that workers across the nation will form the needed structure for Peter Obi.
The NLC General Secretary, Mr. Emma Ugboaja disclosed the development over the weekend when he reiterated that the organised labour has unanimously agreed to vote for the Labour Party and its presidential candidate in the 2023 election.
Obi met with the leadership of the organized labour last week Tuesday during the 10th-anniversary lecture in honour of the former NLC President, late Pascal Bayau, in Abuja.
The incumbent President, Comrade Ayuba Wabba said the Congress was solidly behind Obi and would fully mobilise to ensure the victory of the party come 2023 general elections.
On his part, TUC President, Quadri Olaleye said the unions can no longer fight for the welfare of its workers with strikes and protest, hence the participation in politics.
He noted that with the emergence of Obi, the unions would work hard to support the LP candidate whose mantra will make life better for their members and Nigerians at large.
Ugboaja reiterated the stand over the weekend in a chat with ThisDay, noting that the Labour Party was initially set up to operate on the ideals of defending the workers and the time has come for it to fulfil its mandate.
He said Nigerian workers have considered all the aspirants and unanimously come to a conclusion to support Obi in the 2023 presidential election.
He said: “Workers have decided to take their destinies in their own hands and they have checked all round and came to the conclusion that the Labour Party’s presidential candidate, Mr. Peter Obi is among the finest the country has ever produced. So it is not a question of unknown quantity, he has antecedents.
“His antecedents sit squarely well with what our aspirations are to have our workers engaged, to have the unemployed engaged, for justice come into play and to ensure the redistribution of the wealth of our country and to turn it into the wealth of everybody rather than the wealth of a few and to have the capacity to save after taking care of the needs of the workers to use in developing the country in the future,” he said.
”In our deliberations, there was single-mindedness and unanimity that the way forward is to really re-establish the Labour Party which of course is a creation of the Nigeria Labour Congress and the working people of Nigeria. So there is always a time and a season. The moment has met the labour movement in Nigeria and there is no going back.”
Speaking further, the NLC official said gone were those days when the Labour party operated without involving the labour movement.
Ugboaja pointed out that this time around, the two labour centres in the country are fully behind the Labour Party and its presidential candidate.
He added that the only party that can address the grievances of workers in the country is the Labour Party.
“Labour Party could have been said to be unprepared when the labour movement in Nigeria was taken the back seat and it is an open secret that they were operating without the blessings of the two Labour centres in Nigeria.
“Now the Labour Party is operating with the blessings of the two Labour centre, you can’t be more prepared than that, you can’t be more prepared than the people that have struggled over the years to engage government on key existential issues that has still not been addressed.
“Is it security? Is it production of petroleum products? Is it minimum wage? You cannot be more prepared than a man who has yearned and argued for a decent engagement and now has the platform to express that.”
On the argument that workers can’t be engaged in partisan politics, the NLC scribe said the Supreme Court has settled the matter and everything the organized labour is doing in terms of political affiliation and activities is guided by the rule of law.
He added that democratic dispensation is different from military rule.
“People can’t change the goal post, the Supreme Court of Nigeria has decided on that matter, so anybody saying that, should be talking from the barracks and we are no more in the military regime.
“We are in a civilian democracy and the highest court of the land has ruled on the matter and as far as we are concerned, we stand on the rule of law,” Ugboaja stressed.
He added that all forms of crisis within the Labour Party have been laid to rest and the workers are ready to demand what they deserve through the polls using the already established party structure.
He said: “There is no crisis in Labour Party. Like I told you, labour party is our creation, the only crisis we had in the party was the two Labour centres not having confidence in operations of the Labour Party, but that has been reconciled.
“We now have an understanding and a written agreement in the direction. Anybody still talking about crisis in the Labour Party is just a figment of his imagination.”
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