17th March, 2015
By Ayo OyozeBaje
Elections have become a do-or-die affair in Nigeria because of the sheer attraction and perquisites of office, rather than any sincere motive ‘to serve the people’. That perhaps explains the recent crisis that rocked the re-scheduled Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) election after the botched one that was nothing but a show of national shame. Characterized by the throwing of chairs and punches,it showed that some vested interests were somewhere at the background beating the drums of discord. It also underscores the painful reality of the drastic descent of institutions that should normally be robust enough to deepen the much sought after democratic culture.
Under normal circumstances, when the political power poachers derail from the track of good governance institutions such as the Fourth Estate of the Realm, organised labour union and of course the judiciary should be at the forefront of those calling them to order. Unfortunately, as previous elections and their attendant crises have revealed, these same institutions have compromised the core values of neutrality, high integrity, accountability and the mantra of patriotism that should drive their professional ethics.
Simply put, they have taken sides for self-serving reasons and are therefore, responsible for the rapid descent to the state of moral decay and anomie some concerned citizens lament these days. The once clear line that separates right from wrong has thinned, to the extent that we condone political aberrations including the formation of parallel government instead of employing constitutional means to right the wrongs. That, unfortunately is what has transpired subsequent to the NLC election which took place recently at Eagles Square in Abuja.
According to media reports, as soon as the President of the Medical and Health Workers Union of Nigeria (MHWUN), Comrade Wabba Ayuba was declared the winner of the keenly contested election, his challenger, Joe Ajaero staged a protest in the company of his supporters from 23 affiliate unions. He announced Friday, March 20, 2015 as the date for a fresh ‘special delegates’ conference to be held in Lagos. There, the perceived ‘wrongs’ which took place in the Abuja election would be ironed out. But in a swift response the pro-Ayuba Congress has advised all affiliate unions of the embattled Labour body to discountenance and stay away from the conference.
After the 11th Delegates Conference on Saturday, March 14,2015 concluded the elections of the national executive under the watchful eyes of delegates of labour unions, invited guests and members of the press. It was there that the Returning Officer, Aliyu Dangiwa declared Wabba as the winner, having polled 1,695 votes to Ajaero’s 1,400 votes. The latter is the Secretary General of the National Union of Electricity Employees(NUEE). This scenario presents the likely outcome of the March 28, 2015 presidential polls and that explains the imperative of the stakeholders learning lessons from this. And of course,take pro-active measures to forestall electoral crisis.
The first, being that the INEC must be a neutral umpire in the forthcoming general elections. It must not, either by words or actions give the notion that its activities are skewed in favour of any particular party or candidate. The shoddy distribution of PVCs, with more to the troubled North-Eastern states of Yobe, Borno and Adamawa than the South-Western states of Lagos, Ogun and Oyo before the February,14 2015 earlier date for the poll was one of such. Thank God it has since been largely corrected. One does hope, that the few flaws identified during the recent test-run of the card readers, such as the inability of the card reader to identify finger prints and the running down of batteries after about three hours should equally be rectified.
And should the results of the presidential poll be a close call between incumbent President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan of the PDP and Gen. Muhammadu Buhari of the APC one prays that there would be no formation of any parallel government by the loser, as earlier touted by Governor Rotimi Amaechi of Rivers State. There must be great respect for the rule of law and we should also eschew post-election violence in all its ramifications.
One would also want to call on those at the background stoking the fires of hatred and acrimony between the two leading parties, the PDP and APC, to desist from so doing. Rather, greater emphasis should be placed on the manifestoes of the political parties, instead of the growing culture of character assassination and pull-him-down syndrome that have so far defined the political campaigns.
We should be more concerned about the enthronement of good governance in the polity, starting of course with free, fair and credible elections. For instance, close watchers of the Labour industry would have been happier if its top members had channelled their energy into resolving some nagging labour-related issues instead of using that to angle for power. What has the Labour Union done about the allegation of unremitted housing fund contributed by some of its members, without a single block of flat to show for their money? What about the lingering accumulation of unpaid staff salaries in states such as Benue, Osun, Ogun and Kogi, in some instances for upward of six months?
The real worry is that the contest for power at the Labour Union level is not about struggling for the interest of the poor workers but purely the economic benefits of the eventual winners. The last time the Labour was embroiled in crises of this magnitude was in 1980 which threw up Hassan Sumonu, who championed the N100 minimum wage. Back then, the ideological contestation was between the Marxist Soviet Union and the liberal democrats as influenced by the United states. Industry watchers say that our current Labour Union has degenerated to tokenism and is emasculated of ideas.
All said, the Labour Union just like the Nigerian nation needs to re-invent itself for its leaders to move away from greed and be more people-oriented.