After slipping into ignominy last week as a result of its botched election amidst allegations of a plot to elongate the tenure of its current leadership, the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) is seen taking steps to wriggle out of its crisis and regain lost credibility.
The 11th national delegates’ congress of NLC which commenced on Monday, February 9, 2015, was Thursday, February 12 aborted during voting to elect a new set of leaders to run the affairs of the congress for the next four years, because of alleged multiple voting, multiple ballot papers with some candidates’ names appearing two or three times, while some candidates’ names did not appear in some of the ballot papers. But whether or not the foremost labour centre would succeed in regaining its rhythm this Wednesday would depend on how mature Abdulwaheed Omar led executive handles the volatile situation which has attracted widespread condemnation.
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Contenders in the botched NLC presidential election are still angry over the shoddy conduct of the polls. They include Joe Ajaero, deputy president; Ayuba Wabba, national treasurer, and Igwe Achese, president of the Nigerian Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers (NU- PENG), who later stepped down and turned in sup- port to Ajaero. All the candidates are expected at the meeting.
The National Executive Council (NEC) of the congress is billed to meet to- morrow in Abuja in what Peter Ozo-Eson, the general secretary, said on Monday would major on finding a way out of the impasse. “There is no provision for tenure elongation in our constitution. The tenure of the current leadership ends in March 2nd,” said Ozo-Eson, who described the errors in the ballot papers used for the election as mistakes that were not detected early. However, Lagos-based lawyer, Femi Falana, has called for a thorough investigation into the show of shame at the delegates’ conference in Abuja, which saw delegates flinging chairs, upturning ballot boxes and tearing ballot papers thereby truncating the conference which would have produced a new leadership for the congress.
