By Victor Ahiuma-Young

MARITIME Workers Union of Nigeria, MWUN, and Lagos Lawyer and human rights activist, Mr. Femi Falana, SAN, weekend described as unacceptable and a big embarrassment, the circumstances that led to the botched election of Nigeria Labour Congress, NLC, in Abuja last Thursday. In a statement by the President-General of MWUN, Comrade Emmanuel Tony Nted, the union demanded for a thorough investigation into the alleged printing of multiple ballot papers with different serial numbers among others.

Comrade Nted, a Vice President of NLC in the outgoing executive and who only returned to the country on Friday, a day after the fiasco, insisted that all those who directly and indirectly caused the ballot papers problems must be severely punished to serve as deterrent to others.

Recall that the 11th National Delegates Congress, NDC, of NLC which commenced on Monday, February 9, 2015, was Thursday morning, 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.

Election fraught with alleged multiple voting, multiple ballot papers

There were also allegations that, in some ballot papers, where one of the presidential candidates name appeared, there was no serial number among other anomalies. According to the MWUN President-General, “What happened on Thursday was very sad, a shame and a big embarrassment. I was not in the country during the conference, as I came in on Friday, I was briefed and I felt very bad. This is foreign in labour movement. I do not want to believe it was done because of desperation for power. I was even told that some unions brought only delegates from a section of the country. What sort of thing is that?

Something is definitely wrong. We call for thorough investigation into this matter. Those responsible for the printing of those ballot papers must not go unpunished. They should be brought to book and they must face severe sanctions. If they are secretariat staff, they should be dismissed and prosecuted. And if they are labour leaders, they should be expelled from NLC for giving labour a bad name. We are supposed to be a watch dog to the society, fighting for the oppressed and upholding truth and justice. No, no, this is unacceptable; it is embarrassing and a show of shame. It must not be swept under the carpet.”

Disruption, a national embarrassment —FALANA

On his part, Falana in a statement, said as Counsel to the Congress, he was invited to the conference, lamenting that to the embarrassment of the country the conference was violently disrupted. He called on the leadership of the Congress to probe the disruption of its conference, reconvene as soon as possible and conclude the conference with the election of its national officers.

Falana equally urged labour leaders to ensure that the election was conducted in strict compliance with the provisions of the registered Constitution of the Congress. According to him, “The conference was abruptly disrupted while the election of the national officers of the Congress was postponed indefinitely. Coming so soon after the simulated postponement of the nation’s General Election, the failure of the Congress to conduct its election has further exposed the country to ridicule before the international community.

”The last time that the Congress witnessed a similar disruption of its election was at Benin, Edo State in February, 1988 when the Ibrahim Babangida junta instigated an imaginary facti

onalisation, which led to the dissolution of the structures of the Congress. For four years thereafter, the Congress was in disarray while the Structural Adjustment Programme was imposed on the Nigerian people at the behest of imperialism.

”Hence, without a coordinated resistance from the labour movement, the junta successfully prosecuted the anti-people’s economic agenda of currency devaluation, retrenchment of workers, withdrawal of funding from social services, privatization of public assets and other anti-peoples’ economic agenda.

Although the Congress was restored in 1988, it was again proscribed together with the Nigeria Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers (Nupeng) and the Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior Staff Association of Nigeria (Pengassan) in 1994 by the Sani Abacha junta for demanding that a democratically elected government be inaugurated on the basis of the results of the June 12, 1993 presidential election.

As the 1993 scenario is being replayed by the service chiefs, in cahoot with a faction of the ruling class, the country is once again on the edge of a precipice. As the most organized civil society body in the country, the Congress cannot afford to be distracted at this critical period in the life of the nation.” History is beckoning to the Congress to play a leading role in ensuring that the fragile democratic process in the country is not truncated by desperate anti-democratic forces.