By Eberechi Obinagwam,
Concerned Affiliates of the Trade Union Congress of Nigeria, (TUC) said the election of Festus Osifo as the new president general of the Trade Union Congress of Nigeria (TUC) is a nullity because it contravenes rules and laws guiding delegates conference.
“The product of the election is a nullity and should not be recognized,” said the concerned group who made this known through it’s chairman, Emmanuel C. Jaja in a press conference on Wednesday.
Jaja said it is most regrettable and disheartening that a Labour Center like ours (TUC) could deliberately desecrate the temple of justice by flagrantly disobeying it’s orders.
The Chairman recalled that the National Industrial Court on Wednesday 6th July restrained TUC and its agents in the presence of TUC lawyers and that of the PENGASAN from conducting the Delegates Conference of the Congress pending the determination of the substantive issues in respect of the attempts by the same PENGASSAN who believed that their personal choice not to attend the 2019 Delegates Conference of the Center in 2019 should render the unanimously agreed resolutions of the conference a nullity.
The Court also magnanimously granted an accelerated hearing to the matter.
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Worried about the situation, the group said “What is so urgent in the matter, that warrant TUC and PENGASSAN’s to disobey the court orders.”
According to the union, the crux of the matter started when the Trade Union Congress resolutions at it’s 11th Triennial National Delegates Conference held in 2019 where the conference unanimously agreed that FOTOB should produce the National President of the Conference from 2019 to 2022 while ASSIBIFI should produce the President of the Congress from 2022 to 2025 and thereafter the position of the Presidency shall be left open to any affiliate that wishes to contest the position of presidency.
Concerned Affiliates explained that the decision was reached at various organs of the Center, that is, from National Administrative Council (NAC), the Central Working Committee, (CWC), the National Executive Council, (NEC) and finally at the National Delegates Conference, (NDC).
Explaining further, Jaja said that the implementation of the resolutions commenced with FOTOB which produced the president of the Congress as agreed in 2019 and by 2022 June he served out his tenure. “Going by the resolution of the 2019 Delegates Conference, it is the turn of ASSIBIFI to produce the next President.”
Also, he stated that regrettably, the National Secretariat of the Congress on 28th February 2022 issued a notice on the Congress WhatsApp platform informing the Affiliates of the coming Congress National Delegates Conference which was scheduled to hold on Tuesday 19th and Wednesday 20th July 2022.
“The course of our court action was the inclusion of the position of the Presidency among the contestable positions. On noticing what we considered initially as a mistake turned out to be a deliberate and wilful intention to distort the Congress unanimous agreement reached at the 2019 Delegates Conference. These 10 Affiliates jointly wrote to the leadership of the Congress drawing their attention to the mistake and requested for it’s correction, but until the time of this press briefing no response was received from the President of the Congress. ASSIBIFI on her part reminded the president of the Congress of the observed mistake but no response nor excuse was received til date.”
“The only option left for this group was to seek the court interpretation of the Delegates Conference resolutions and as a responsible organisation, the leadership of TUC should have waited to hear from the court rather than taken laws into their hands thereby defiling the Court orders. While their lawyers were in court in Lagos on Tuesday 19th July 2022 defending their position and imaginations, they were busy in Abuja desecrating the Court of competent jurisdiction,” he added.
He disclosed that the Conference was fixed for Wednesday 20th July 2022 but was held on Tuesday 19th July 2022. ” There was no CWC and NEC meetings before the so called election, they just went to conduct what they called election and allocated 18 votes to ASSIBIFI. ‘ What an Impetus, Impunity and Arrogance’, Jaja queried.
The group however, called on the federal and state governments and all Employers of Labour on Nigeria not to recognise or have anything to do with the so acclaimed leadership of the Trade Union Congress of Nigeria pending the determination of the substantive issues in Court.
The group noted that they have directed their Lawyers to ensure that they do the needful as regards the violation of the Court orders to serve as a deterrent to others who may want to defile court orders in the future.
Responding to the issue from TUC National Secretariat, Acting Secretary General, TUC Comrade Nuhu Toro, in a forwarded message said “They went to court in Lagos and the process is ongoing. The election was done in the last TUC delegate Conference by the Court Order from Abuja NIC, that said we should follow our constitution.”
“A quorum was formed at the NDC and the process was seamless. A minority cannot lord their will over the majority. They went to court in Lagos because they have faith in the process. They should kindly exercise patience and wait for the final verdict.”
