The President of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), Comrade Joe Ajaero, and the Julius Abure-led faction of the Labour Party (LP) have traded accusations over the internal crisis plaguing the party, each blaming the other for the ongoing political turmoil.
At a stakeholders’ meeting convened by the Senator Nenadi Usman-led National Caretaker Committee in Abuja on Wednesday, Ajaero accused the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) and federal agencies of orchestrating a plot to destabilise the Labour Party.
“It is the potential that we have that is attracting all these attacks. All the agencies of government are involved in the destabilisation plot,” Ajaero alleged.
“I call on the government to stop destabilising the workers’ party. All over the world, Labour Parties are organised and run by trade unions—why should Nigeria be different?”
He maintained that the NLC, as the founder of the party, has a responsibility to protect and reform it. “We are not fighting anyone,” he said. “In the next few days, there will be action to reclaim what belongs to us.”
Ajaero also urged interested Nigerians, especially institutional stakeholders, to join the LP ahead of a planned sensitisation campaign in the coming weeks.
Responding to Ajaero’s remarks, the Abure-led LP faction dismissed the NLC president’s allegations, describing them as an attempt to deflect blame for the crisis. In a statement signed by the party’s National Publicity Secretary, Obiora Ifoh, the faction said the NLC and its leadership should take full responsibility for destabilising the party.
“If there is any person or organisation that has destabilised the Labour Party or is working to destabilise it, it is no other than Joe Ajaero and the NLC,” the statement read.
Ifoh accused Ajaero of unilaterally setting up an unconstitutional transition committee following the 2023 general elections, a move he said sparked the current crisis. “Before that, the party had no faction or major disagreements,” he stated.
He further alleged that the transition committee “constituted a nuisance” at the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) and included retired labour leaders such as Abdulawaheed Omar, Comrade Ejiofor, Lawson Osagie, and Prof. Theophilus Ndubaku, whom he claimed were being used to destabilise the party.
“The regulatory body in the Ministry of Labour has also publicly warned Ajaero to stay away from political matters and focus on his role as NLC President,” Ifoh added. “He should not shift the blame but accept responsibility for the current state of the party.”
The Labour Party has been embroiled in a leadership crisis since after the 2023 elections, with factions loyal to Julius Abure and the NLC-backed caretaker committee continuing to battle for control of the party’s structure.
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