The crisis rocking the leadership of the Labour Party took a new twist yesterday as labour veterans and trade unionists’ assembly insisted that the national chairman of the party, Barrister Julius Abure, and the President of Nigeria Labour Congress, NLC, Comrade Joe Ajaero, tender their resignations.
Addressing the press in Abuja, the veteran labour leader, Comrade Isah Tijjani, who was the former vice president of NLC, lamented the ongoing crisis, describing it as a show of shame.
He said: “Instead of proudly upholding the noble ideals of the party, a handful of avaricious, power hungry political fraudsters have since deployed several criminal subterfuges through which, they have succeeded in turning the nation’s promising workers party into a colossal political travesty.
“The cumulative effect of this unfortunate development is that the political prospects signalled by the entry of this popular party into the contest for power in our dear country are fast eroding into an unfathomable oblivion.
“This disagreeable decadence gripping the party, is being given tangible expression by the irony of the corrupt party leaders closing the gate of the party firmly against millions of workers willing to joyously join the party.
“Regrettably, as we speak, this pathetic situation continued unabated, because the NLC which is supposed to play its rightful role as the collective conscience of the party, woefully failed to rise to this enormous responsibility, which she treats with unforgivable levity and reckless abandon.”
Tijjani asserted that Ajaero has failed in bringing about labour unionism, adding that his resignation was the way forward.
“The legion of labour veterans, is intimately familiar with the damning records of financial sleaze said to have been flagrantly perpetrated by the national chairman of LP, Julius Abure.”
“This familiarity has emboldened the rank and file of our members nationwide to spontaneously join the many well meaning and patriotic groups and highly spirited individuals who are calling for the immediate arrest and trial of Mr Julius Abure.
“We strongly believe that his trial and subsequent conviction will serve as a deterrent to aspiring younger politicians, particularly those from trade unions background.
“In this connection, our good members are hereby strongly reaffirming their cardinal demand, that, Abure Must Go.”
