Edo NLC Throws Out Reluctant Chairman Over Support for PDP, As Obaseki Leaves Office

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With the exit of Governor Godwin Obaseki of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) from office, the Edo State chapter of the Nigerian Labour Congress (NLC) has moved against its chairman,
Comrade Odion Olaye, announcing his removal Monday night.

The NLC, which announced Comrade Bernard Joman as the Acting Chairman of the union pending when the national leadership would conduct a fresh election in the state, accused Olaye of dragging the organised labour into politics by openly taking sides with a political party during the recent governorship election in the state.
This decision to sack Olaye was said to have been reached at a State Executive Committee (SEC) meeting of the NLC held at the Labour House, Benin City, where 27 active affiliate unions out of the 34, affirmed the action.

Giving reasons for the decision, the chairman of Council of the Senior Staff Association of Nigerian Polytechnics (SSANIP) representing the Auchi Polytechnic and Edo State Polytechnic, Osahon Omole, said Olaye had been removed by the court as the state chairman of the National Union of Road Transport Workers (NURTW) but he refused to comply.

Omole also accused the sacked chairman of failure to pay his union dues to the NURTW for over 20 years.

The NURTW had in a letter to the NLC dated November 4, 2024, signed by the state secretary, Godwin Aghimien, with copies made available to newsmen, said Olaye had been recalled from representing the union in the NLC having been removed since 2023 and a caretaker committee already in place.

Frowning at Olaye’s partisanship during the election, the labour leaders asserted that “We cannot allow anybody to drag the name of the NLC into politics like was done in the immediate past. We must salvage the union, and this is the best time to do so.”

The new chairman, Joman, who belongs to the Amalgamated Union of Public Corporation, Civil Service Technical and Recreational Services Employees (AUPCTRE), promised to restore the “dignity of the NLC to ensure that workers’ welfare remains our priority”

Olaye however denied his removal, stating that “There is nothing like that. NLC is not a small organisation that some people will just sit somewhere and decide. I remain the authentic NLC chairman in Edo State till 2027.
“Nobody has changed me; nobody can go to the roadside and say they removed me. There is no truth in that. They are only trying to hide under the APC to do that.”