Acting General Secretary of the
Congress, Mr. Owei Lakemfa, has been sent packing as the leadership crisis in
the Nigerian Labour Congress assumed a new dimension on Sunday.
It was learnt that Mr.
Chris Uyot was also appointed on an acting capacity.
Uyot, who is expected to take over in
June, is the current head of Media at the headquarters of the NLC in Abuja.
It was learnt that Lakemfa ran into
trouble with entrenched interest in the Nigeria Labour Movement because of his
hard position on the issue of the total removal of the fuel subsidy in the
country.
He was said to be too rigid and even
disobedient to respected former leaders of the NLC contacted by the Presidency
to intervene in the anti-subsidy removal demonstration
The source said two unsuceesful
attempts were made in January and March to remove him.
It was further learnt that Lakemfa
would have been removed from office in May but for the killing former private
secretary to the Edo State Governor, Mr. Oyerinde Olaitan, who was billed to
resume as the General Secretary of the Congress.
Oyerinde, a Deputy General Secretary
of the NLC, was on sabbatical to Edo State.
It was learnt that several national
officials of the NLC were of the view that Lakemka should be removed.
Lakemfa became the acting secretary
of the NLC following the removal of Mr. John Odah.
Odah, who leads the integrity Group
of Labour Unions, is challenging his removal in court, describing it as a
violation as of the rights of employees which should be sacred to the NLC.
The crisis however assumed a fresh
dimension when Lakemfa raised the alarm on May 13 that top functionaries
of the Federal Government were out to divide the labour movement through the
establishment of a parallel labour centre.
He said those behind the planned new
labour centre billed for registration in July, were also those behind the
anti-labour law in the National Assembly, allegedly meant to whittle down the
influence of the NLC.
Although the Minister of Labour
and Productivity, Chief Emeka Wogu, denied knowledge of such a move, the
Integrity Group issued a statement in which the group stared that the NLC
had become unworthy of association and that a new labour centre was inevitable.
When our correspondent attempted to
reach the NLC President, Abdulwahed Omar, on the telephone, he did not pick the
call.
Omar also did not respond to a text
message sent to him to confirm if Lakemfa had been removed or not.
Also, efforts to reach Lakemfa and
Uyot for their comments were fruitless as the calls placed to their telephones
indicated that they were switched off.