NLC leadership dispute: settle out of court, industrial court advises labour leaders

By Ezugwu Obinna

The National Industrial Court (NIC) has called on the Nigerian Labour Congress (NLC) to seek other amicable, out of court resolution to its lingering leadership crisis rather than relying on court judgment which it noted would further sow seeds of discord in the congress

The President of the NIC, Justice Babatunde Adejumo made the call Wednesday at Ikoyi, Lagos when the case filed by the Comrade Ayuba Wabba led group challenging the legitimacy of the parallel Joe Ajero led congress came up for mention. After listening to the submission by Chief G.A. Adetola-Kaseem, counsel to the Ayuba camp, Justice Adejumo in an admonition which lasted some 45 minutes urged labour unions to sustain mutual reconciliation instead of litigations that would further divide them.

According to the President of the Court, “ordinary members of unions and the nation at large have high expectations of the labour movement given its historic role in the nation’s history.”

Justice Adejumo noted that he made the call without prejudice to the case before the NIC and emphasized the importance of labour in the development of the nation. He however, warned the labour leaders that the NIC has the powers of conciliation in such matters as the internal dispute in the NLC. These powers he said are contained in section 20 of the National Industrial Court Act.

“Workers constitute the engine room of the economy, whatever the difference, a united NLC is better off than a divided one. With the likes of Comrade Issa Aremu and others who are respected labour leaders in Nigeria, reconciliation should not be ignored.”

“It is an implied duty of the court which may warrant the court to appoint a Trustee for the NLC.”

He therefore called on the counsels to the two parties to explore opportunities for reconciliation on a win-win basis.

The court later adjourned further hearing until 8th October, 2015 with the hope that both factions will use the period to find amicable solutions to the problem.

Meanwhile the Ajero led camp has in a press release signed by Comrade Oladele Hunsu, president of Textile Workers Union, promised show commitment to any peace process initiated with a view to ending the crisis while also commending the NIC president for his advice.

“We commend the President of NIC for his plea for Reconciliation in place of litigation. We also hereby acknowledge the spirited effort by the highly respected labour veterans to reconcile both factions of the NLC following the discredited 11th Delegates Conference and Special Delegates Conference of NLC respectively.”

“We call on labour leaders to take advantage of the admonition of the NIC to get united and resolve all outstanding issues and forge common unity to defend Nigerian workers against the worsening economic crisis,” the statement read.

It would be recalled that the NLC has been operating under two parallel leadership following the rejection of the Abuja held conference that produced Wabba as NLC president by a number of other union leaders who went ahead to hold another conference in Lagos where Ajero was elected president. Efforts by labour veterans to reconcile the factions fell through.

As early as 7 am on Wednesday, hundreds of supporters of the two groups in Lagos advocated amicable out-of-court settlement of the crisis.