Crisis hits Ekiti NLC over ‘dissolution’ of exco by aggrieved members
The pronouncement made by some members of the Nigerian Labour Congress, NLC, Ekiti chapter that the Comrade Ade Adesanmi–led state executive of the union has been dissolved has sparked serious crisis in the state chapter of the trade union centre.
Present efforts by aggrieved members, led by Adesanmi’s predecessor, Comrade Ayodeji Ajayi to get the executive dissolved abruptly, could not be unconnected with the change of leadership in the state.
The incumbent Governor, Dr. Kayode Fayemi took over from former Governor Ayodele Fayose on Tuesday and the aggrieved NLC leaders had the impression that the present Exco were core loyalists of the immediate past government.
To this end, the anti-Adesanmi forces had on some Ado Ekiti-based media on Wednesday announced that the state executive had been dissolved and that a caretaker will soon be set up to pilot the affairs of the union.
But a counter statement, issued in Ado Ekiti on Thursday and signed by Adesanmi, urged the public to discountenance the announcement, saying only the national secretariat of the union has the overriding powers to dissolve the body.
Adesanmi added that the national body of the union had in a letter dated September 10, 2018, signed by its General Secretary, Dr. Peter Ozo-Eson, and addressed to the union in Ekiti, affirmed the legality of the current state executive and its powers to operate till 2019 before a change of guard.
The NLC chief described the purported dissolution by the aggrieved members as a negation of the Trade Union Act, saying their actions remain illegal, null and void and of no effect whatsoever.
He stated that the NLC, had in its Congress of August 27, 2018, slammed 10-year ban on Ayodeji Aluko and his counterpart in Trade Union Congress (TUC), Comrade Kolawole Olaiya and was accepted by national secretariat, adding that this restraint from union participation had impeded them from taking any action on behalf of the unions.
Adesanmi said: “NLC is a noble profession that is governed by constitution and therefore won’t tolerate continuous illegal activities of these aforementioned individuals.
“We are sitting executive whose tenure run till 2019 and this position has been validated by our national secretariat.
“The national headquarters had in a letter dated September 10, 2018 with reference number NLC/NS/B. 32/225 stated inter alia : ‘That the NLC is governed by Constitution and anything done at variance with the provisions of the constitution can’t stand. I therefore , wish to confirm that the only leadership of the NLC known to and recognized by the National Secretariat remains the one led by Com. Ade Adesanmi’”, the letter concluded.
“Adesanmi added : “Comrades Aluko and Olaiya had been banned from participating in union matters for 10 years and ratified at the national secretariat, so they are personal-non-grata and not recognized by any organ of the congress.
“The illegal activities of these unscrupulous elements have been reported to all security agencies and the current labour leaders in Ekiti state cherish peace , but if these political jobbers are not called to order, their subsequent action may be met with force and the outcome would be better imagined,” he warned.
