By Eberechi Obinagwam
President General of the Senior Staff Association of Electricity and Allied Companies (SSAEAC), Chris Okonkwo, has said that there are still possibilities for the leadership to reconvene and review expelled groups if they retrace their steps, change from what they are doing, and are willing to follow the constitutional process and not seek special conditions.
The President made this known on Monday after revealing that the union has expelled over 14 parallel members over anti-union activities, accusing the parallel members of breaking the union’s constitution with impunity.
This was extensively deliberated during the emergency NEC meeting on August 16, 2021, and the Council in a collective decision agreed to expel them from the Association.
According to him, some members were accused of purportedly organized a National Executive Council, NEC, meeting, where they allegedly impeached the incumbent President General of the Association, Comrade Chris Okonkwo as well as the termination of the appointment of the General Secretary, Comrade Nnamdi Ajibo.
The report had it that, on July, 3, the group convened the first meeting and issued a letter to the Registrar of Trade Unions, copying Ministers of Labour and Power, Inspector General of Police as well as the Director-General, Department of the State Security service.
But the association described the action as out of greed, lack of value and desperation to liquidate the union, saying that the impeachment is null and void.
He said there is a power struggle in the union, that some parallel groups are trying to subsectionised the union, by bringing Nigeria politics into the union, pointing out that some unseen hands in the sector were behind the act.
According to him, the parallel groups are trying to distract and disrupt the union. “Their level of desperation is growing and appalling. They are people that are self-seeking, while ours is a desire for service, they appointed themselves, they want to sell the union’s asset, which I have protected.
“The part of this building was shut down, it was a refuge dumb, but we have worked on it and they want to reap where they did not sow, but they have done themselves a fatal blow. They are trying to distract and disrupt the union, but we will remain focused, and protect our assets,” he said.
The tussle according to the Deputy President General, South, Comrade Irene Aghalokpe, started when some members of the union raised the issue of insecurity in the northern parts of the country, with the opinion that the venue of the 2022 national delegates’ conference might be changed from Kano to Abuja which was still open for deliberation, ”but instead of contributing to the observations, before you know it, they signed and wrote to TCN, DSS, and police. They wrote outside the union.
When the chairman asked them to apologise, they started insulting the president, and the leadership of the union without any single regard for the constitution and said they cannot trace their steps back. So, we wrote to them according to the constitution. The committee took the decision that they remain suspended,”
Okonkwo on his part said the proposition was not to prevent the initial 2019 consensus for Kano until a formal decision is taken premised on security concerns being expressed by the majority of members plying northern roads.
And the possible apathy that may trail the turnout of quests. He noted that the issue has been slated for deliberation, as a major issue for the forthcoming NEC meeting, scheduled to hold in October 2021, before the expelled group escalated the issue.
Okonkwo pouring out his grievance on the matter said, ”They lied that I issued a statement changing something, I did not issue any change of venue, they do not understand English, and because they don’t understand English, I don’t know what to do or they refused because they have their agenda.
“There is a limit to what we can do for them because they have closed their minds. After all, they have backers that are giving them money, and by the way, some of them have relied on me for their survival.
“I must see that I protect the union within the short term I have and above all, protect the power sector. This union has made a lot of input in the stability of the power sector.
“They are expelled, many other issues in the union are taken care of, they are internal but with the possibility that if they change from what they are doing, we will reconvene and review.
“Their action is a growing level of desperation. I saw the body language of some of them a year before my tenure. Some of them were assuming they were president. Their body language of the presumption that the president should be for them.
“Unfortunately, in this country, we add politics to everything. But there is no place in unionism for politics in the essence of dragging things in labour unionism.
“Yes, officers are elected democratically, but, it does not mean that you should bring the problem of politics into the labour struggle, by so doing, you want to kill the union.
“If these expelled people come back, I will encourage them to come and follow the processes everybody followed, from South, East, North, don’t ask for special conditions, and what is the special conditions, they feel that most of the time, the presidents comes from the South, and I said, well, is it not by contest? I could not have won if the people did not vote for me, it is by conviction, you convince people, they vote for you. But, because they know they have a shaky stand or prospect, they are not ready that is why they are going to court to force it down,”
”I appeal to the registrar of Trade Unions to be firm on the roles, and if they have not followed the rules to declare what they declared, they should be sanctioned appropriately.
“More so, we have elevated discussion attached, early discussion, we have sent to them to show them that there is nothing we have to hid we showed the data of what numbers that will come from the four walks of the country. It is transparency, and but they want it anyhow and I would not want to win an election that is rigged.”
