Julius Abure, the National Chairman of the Labour Party (LP), has warned NLC President, Joe Ajaero, against leveraging the NLC’s platform, finances, and resources to advance his ambitions of contesting for the presidency in 2027 or seeking the governorship of Imo State.
Abure delivered this message in Asaba, Delta State, during a reaction to the closure of the Labour Party’s National Headquarters by protesting NLC members who demanded his immediate removal as National Chairman.
He criticized the protest as being politically motivated, describing it as a manifestation of recklessness, abuse of power, and a disregard for the nation’s laws.
He said: “I must state today that the leadership of NLC under Joe Ajaero is on the part of destroying the successes we have recorded in the 2023 general election.
“I had expected that expected that as a responsible trade union centre, a responsible labour leader number one should have teamed up with Labour Party to see how we can team up together to make the country better.
“Unfortunately and ironically too, the NLC is the one that is on the part of war against Labour Party. I must state clearly that Ajaero as NLC President has not been able to organise a successful strike action. Not even a single protest or even picketing government establishment in order to bring government to accede to the numerous requests of workers.
“As we speak, there are unfair labour practices meted out to workers by several organisations in the country. I have not seen Joe Ajaero go to such organisations to picket them.”
While reiterating that Joe Ajaero is not a registered member of the Labour Party, Abure said the party is not owned by NLC as being claimed by the labour union.
He said: “Over the past few years, NLC has been claiming ownership of Labour Party. l must state clearly that NLC is not the owner of Labour Party. The party is not owned by NLC.
“The law is very clear that you cannot picket an organisation where you do not have your workers. We are not the employers of NLC and they don’t have the legitimate reason to picket our office.
“We have no trade union dispute with NLC, there is no notice issued to us that we have a trade union dispute with NLC. This is clearly an abuse of office and abuse of the laws of the land.”
