Police Seal Edo NLC Secretariat Amid Leadership Crisis
Police operatives on Thursday sealed off the Adams Oshiomhole Labour House in Benin City, halting the planned inauguration of a caretaker committee set up by the national leadership of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) for its Edo State chapter.
The blockade, which labour leaders described as a deliberate attempt to frustrate their activities, marks the latest escalation in the leadership tussle that has divided the union in the state.
The NLC headquarters had last week dissolved the state leadership and appointed a caretaker committee headed by Prof. Monday Igbafen. However, when national officials led by Oluwole Sunday arrived for the inauguration, they met the secretariat locked, with security operatives stationed at the gate.
“They refused to release the keys to the secretariat. We had no choice but to move the exercise elsewhere,” Sunday told Hobnob News. The caretaker committee was eventually inaugurated at a discreet location after an initial attempt to use the ASUU Secretariat at the University of Benin.
Meanwhile, Bernard Egwakhide, who insists he remains the legitimate chairman with backing from the Edo State government, dismissed the inauguration as a nullity.
Speaking at the locked secretariat, Egwakhide said: “From the directive and the letter sent by the National Secretary, it stated that they are coming to inaugurate a committee. We have been here since morning. Other workers have been here too. No one has come into this place to inaugurate any committee. So, we feel that there is nothing that has happened again. In all, I, Comrade Bernard Egwakhide, remain the chairman of Edo NLC.”
Egwakhide further claimed he emerged caretaker chairman after receiving the backing of 43 affiliate unions following the removal of former chairman, Comrade Odion Olaye.
He accused the Joe Ajaero-led national NLC of stoking unnecessary crisis in Edo, alleging that “they have flouted the Edo State House of Assembly resolution on the NLC leadership. The national body is trying to impose a structure instead of allowing peace to reign.”
