By Danlami Nmodu
Acting Secretary General of Nigeria Labour Congress,NLC Owei Lakemfa has been removed from the post.No official statement has been made on this development but Newsdiaryonline.com learnt that Lakemfa has been replaced by Chris Uyot who is expected to serve as acting secretary general pending further instructions .However, sources said a decision may have been reached to rotate the post of secretary general,but the modality for that remains unclear.Lakemfa became acting secretary general on the heels of the controversial sacking of John Odah as Secretary General.Odah is in court seeking redress.
Newsdiaryonline.com learnt that Lakemfa may have run into trouble over a recent statement he issued which some insiders said “ went beyond his brief.”He is being accused of taking on some ‘new labour centre’ in a manner considered inappropriate.
In what appears to confirm reports of disquiet over Lakemfa’s statement,NLC President Abdulwaheed Omar in a statement on Saturday which did not mention Lakemfa said a recent media war emerged as a reaction to a “statement purported to be issued by the Congress”.
Said Omar after NLC’s NAC meeting, “Congress, regrettably noted the recent media statement credited to the General Secretary of the Non Academic Staff Union (NASU), Comrade Peters Adeyemi, and the President of the National Union of Hotels and Personal Services Workers (NUHPSW), Comrade Leke Success, purported to be a reaction to a similar regrettable statement purported to be issued by the Congress.
Omar added ,“Congress noted that at no time was there a decision to engage any of the affiliate unions of the NLC, including great unions like NASU and (NUHPSW) in unnecessary media exchanges and war of attrition over issues that are purely internal and clearly surmountable.As a democratic organisation, internal contestations are inevitable. Indeed debates and divergent views are part of the great democratic heritage of the NLC. Therefore, recent discordant voices of some unionists after the last Delegates’ Conference of the NLC are not unusual. It has happened in the past and the NLC has emerged even stronger and better positioned for the defence of workers’ rights. NLC therefore wishes to call all its affiliates to service its unity through its time tested internal democratic structures.”
