Politics
Why NLC Suspended Picketing Of Power Firm
The Nigeria Labour
Congress (NLC) may have been forced to suspend its picketing of Port Harcourt Electricity Distribution Company (PHEDC) following the infiltration of its ranks by suspected hoodlums and hired thugs.
The Tide gathered from a highly placed authority in the congress that the picketing was suspended Friday because the protest was taking a violent dimension.
The authority who pleaded anonymity revealed to The Tide that thugs suspected to have been hired by the management of PHEDC attacked the protesting NLC members in Port Harcourt, the Rivers State capital.
The alleged hired thugs were said to have mobilised and attacked the congress members at the Moscow Road Zonal headquarters of PHEDC, Borikiri Business Unit and Ikwerre Road Office of the Diobu Business Unit of the company.
“They emerged in their numbers attacked our members and broke the chains used in sealing the entrances of the company offices”, the source said.
The Tide learnt that, during the violence unleashed on the NLC members, the official vehicle of the South South Zonal Chairman of the National Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers (NUPENG), Comrade Godwin Eruba, was smashed and vandalised while his bag containing valuable documents and unspecified amount of money was also removed. Some members of the congress were said to have been injured in the fracas.
But while the attackers in Port Harcourt were suspected thugs hired to protect the interest of PHEDC, The Tide gathered that in Uyo and Ikot Ekpene areas of Akwa Ibom State, the attackers were members of the public who have been aggrieved by the unsatisfactory services of the company.
The hoodlums took advantage of the picketing to vent their anger on some officials of the company.
The Business Manager of Uyo Business unit was said to have been beaten to coma while his Ikot Ekpene counterpart was lucky as he had observed the influx of the hooligans and made away through the back door. It was equally gathered that apart from the two principals officers of the company, other persons also got injured.
It was in the light of the dangerous and violent way the thugs and hooligans were infiltrating the protest, according to our source, that NLC decided to suspend the picketing exercise for the safety of members and other members of the public.
The picketing which started last Tuesday in the South South zone also saw a breakdown of dialogue between the NLC leadership and PHEDC management.
The Tide learnt that choice of venue for the meeting in Port Harcourt was responsible for break down in negotiation while NLC had chosen the Labour House located at D/Line part of Port Harcourt while the PHEDC management preferred Sansun Hotel in Trans Amadi, apparently for safety reasons.
The meeting which was scheduled to hold on Thursday last week by 2Pm could not hold.
Intervention of the Rivers State Director of State Security Service (SSS), to broker peace was said to had saved the situation.
The meeting which was said to be convened at the Hotel Presidential after the said attack in Port Harcourt, our source said, lingered till 3.00am in the morning of Saturday.
Effort by The Tide to get the outcome of the meeting was unsuccessful until the time of filing this report.
On Tuesday when the picketing began, the Leader of the NLC team, Comrade Opuoyibo Lilly-West and the Head of the Police team that monitored the exercise at the zonal office of PHED at Mosco Road, Port Harcourt were satisfied with the security atmosphere of the exercise as it was very peaceful.
Lilly-West who also is the chairman, Rivers State Civil Service Union had also assured members of the public that picketing would remain peaceful.
He said, the picketing was in protest against the PHED management stance against workers unionism which is a constructional right of workers.
Lilly-West regretted that PHED, management had not shown commitment in implementing the tripartite agreement between the government, the company and workers which gave way for the take over of the defunct Power Holding Company of Nigeria (PHCN).
He said the congress in response to casualisation which he termed slavery, non payment of severance package and refusal to absorb the work force by the private investors who took over from the PHCN amongst others was intended to protect the interest of its members in the company.
Another issue raised by NLC was allegation of a form distributed to workers in PHEDC which sought to know their interest in unionism, stressing that the company laid of most active members off workers union as it took over from PHCN and had also marked out any staff interested in allowing deduction of union fee from his or her monthly salary for sack.
“We have written series of letters to the company’s management but they have always turned them down, saying they don’t have any business with labour, Lilly-West said and insisted that the picketing would continue until management decides to open the window for discussion.
In Cross River, the State Chairman of NLC, Comrade John Ushie who led the picketing in the state accussed PHEDC of sacking 134 union leaders in its move to abolish trade union in the company.
“There is nowhere in the world that an organisation takes over and wants to abolish trade union activities in the company,” Ushie said, remarking that the picketing would not stop until the government meet their demand. He also stated that, the Nigerian law is against casualisation of workers in whatever form. After shunning a meeting called by the union thrice, they continued to demonstrate their unfriendly posture with the union.
The Chairman of Nigeria Union of Electricity Employee (NUEE) in Cross Rivers State, Comrade Daniel Asuquo who corraborated what the state NLC boss said explained that the new managers of PHEDC remained adamant and unwilling to negotiate with the workers on issues of severance allowances and entitlements.
According to Asuquo, the union came in solidarity with the state NLC so that the right of the Nigerian workers would not be trampled upon and called on the management of PHEDC to demonstrate courage by ensuring dialogue with the union to ensure safe landing for the workers who have been penciled down for lay off by the new company.
The Managing Director of 4 Power Consortium had told newsmen recently that PHEDC was thoroughly assessing workers performance as their contract duration ends soon.
He said a consultant had been contracted to handle the issue and stressed that the exercise was not intended in sack workers but in finding area where each worker can perform better.
The contract agreement ended on April 2014, but management of PHEDC extended it by one month which was expected to end last month.
Chris Oluoh
Prof Chinedu Nebo, Minister of Power
Justice Peter Lifu of the Federal High Court in Abuja on Monday brushed aside the order of the Court of Appeal in Abuja which ordered him to stay proceedings in a suit that sought deregistration of the African Democratic Party (ADC), Accord Party and three others.
The Court of Appeal in a unanimous decision of a panel of three Justices had on May 22, 2026 directed the Federal High Court Judge not to proceed with the suit until an appeal pending before them and filed by Accord Party is resolved.
In a Certified True Copy Enrol Order of the Superior Court, Justices Mohammed Danjuma, Adebukola Banjoko and Oyejoju Oyewumi asked the lower Court Judge to stay proceedings until all issues on the appeal filed by the Accord Party were resolved
Governor Ademola Adeleke of Osun State had, through the Accord Party, applied to justice Lifu to join him as a defendant in the deregistration legal battle instituted by a group of former legislators.
The contention of the Osun State governor was that he had a stake in the Accord Party, being the platform he was seeking re-election in the August 15 gubernatorial poll in the state.
In his ruling, Justice Lifu on April 27 ruled against the Osun State governor, rejecting his request to be joined in the suit to defend his own position and interest.
Not satisfied with the Federal High Court decision, the Osun State governor, through his lawyer, Musibau Adetunbi (SAN), moved to the Court of Appeal in Abuja where he challenged the Justice Lifu decision to refuse to allow him join the suit.
After listening to the argument canvassed, especially that he has interest to protect as Accord Party gubernatorial candidate for Osun State governorship election, the three Justices of the Court of Appeal, unanimously directed Justice Lifu to allow them look into the grievances of the governor.
In specific terms, the Court of Appeal Justices directed Justice Lifu not to proceed further with the matter and fixed October 27 to determine the interlocutory appeal of the appellant.
However, when the certified enroll order and notice of appeal were served on Justice Peter Lifu by Mr Adetunbi (SAN), the judge rejected it on the ground that it was a ploy to arrest his judgment in the matter.
Although the judge had adjourned his judgment delivery in the matter indefinitely, he finally made a dramatic turn around on Monday and proceeded to deliver the judgment that has now proscribed the five political parties.
Actor turned politician, Mr Kenneth Okonkwo, has rejected the choice of former Rivers State Governor, Mr Rotimi Amaechi, as the running mate to Alhaji Atiku Abubakar in the 2027 presidential election on the platform of the African Democratic Congress (ADC).
In a statement on Monday, Mallam Bolaji Abdulllahi, the National Publicity Secretary of the ADC, announced the party’s choice of Mr Amaechi.
However in a statement, Mr Okonkwo said that the choice of Mr Amaechi from the South South strengthens the continued marginalization of people from the South East.
According to the former spokesperson of the Labour Party, any arrangement that would not factor a person from the South East either as president or vice president in the party is anti-Igbo.
He contended that Chief Raph Nwosu, who founded the ADC in 2005 and willingly surrendered it’s leadership to Senator David Mark did not do so to entrench Igbo marginalization in the party.
The former actor said: “I heard from the social media that ADC has picked its vice presidential candidate from the South-South. If this is true, it is unfortunate, as this will continue the crude marginalisation of the South-East.
“This geo-political zone has neither produced a president or vice president since 1999. To deny the South-East the opportunity to produce the president or vice president in the ADC in 2027, will amount to perpetuating the marginalisation.
“The ADC was founded by Ralphs Nwosu from the South-East in 2005. He made the sacrifice to give up the party in 2025 for the coalition to usher in a better Nigeria. He couldn’t have made that sacrifice to marginalise his own people.
“I did not join the coalition to assist in marginalisation of my own people further. I am of the opinion that if we made a sacrifice to give up the national chairman and the president, it will amount to unpardonable injustice to deny us the vice president in 2027.
“I joined politics to fight for a better Nigeria where no region, geo-political zone, or person will be marginalised.
“The only favour I asked Atiku Abubakar, who openly declared that he is the pathway to the presidency of the South-East, is to show it by choosing someone from the South-East to be his vice.
“If it is confirmed that he has chosen a candidate from the South-South, I wish him well. I am not favourably disposed to campaigning for any presidential ticket that does not have a person of South-East origin as president or vice in 2027”
The National Chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Professor Nentawe Yilwatda, on Monday said that the numerous projects being executed by President Bola Tinubu across the states in the southeast will give him upper hand over other presidential candidates during next year’s general elections.
Prof. Yilwatda stated this at the Abakaliki Township Stadium during a mega rally organized by the Ebonyi State government and Minister of Works, Senator David Umahi, during which President Tinubu and other APC candidates for the 2027 general elections were adopted.
According to the APC National Chairman, no President had done for the southeast region what President Tinubu has done for them and expressed the confidence that the president would not only win in Ebonyi State but in the entire South East.
Prof. Yilwatda also used the occasion to address growing insinuations in some quarters that Ebonyi State had been conceded to the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) ahead of the 2027 general elections.
Dismissing the claim, Prof. Yilwatda said the state would not allow the PDP to win any position in the forthcoming general election.
“We will return President Bola Ahmed Tinubu and Francis Nwifuru as Governor of Ebonyi State in 2027.
“We want to return all APC senators, members of the House of Representatives and House of Assembly candidates in 2027.
“Nobody has conceded Ebonyi to the PDP. Therefore, there is no vacancy in Ebonyi State. Ebonyi PDP has no place, and there is no vacancy at all in the Government House come 2027,” the APC National Chairman declared.
He commended the people of the state for their support for President Tinubu and urged them to re-elect him in the next presidential election in appreciation of what he has done for the state and the entire South-East through infrastructural transformation and human capital development.
Governor Francis Nwifuru, who also spoke at the event, said the state had no other presidential candidate for the 2027 general elections apart from President Tinubu.
He declared that Ebonyi remained a stronghold of the APC and vowed that the party would deliver the President in the state.
Gov. Nwifuru said President Tinubu had shown exceptional commitment to the state and deserved total support for appointing Senator Umahi as Minister of Works, a role he said Senator Umahi had performed creditably.
“Ebonyi has no other presidential candidate apart from President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, and we will return him in the presidential election.
“We are standing here today to tell the whole world, especially those using the President’s name to orchestrate division and confusion in this great state, that we have only one party, and that is the APC.
“This statement became necessary because some people are going around claiming they have discussed with Mr President and that he has handed Ebonyi over to the PDP. They are also saying that Chief Nyesom Wike is their leader and that Wike said the President has given Ebonyi to him.
“Ebonyi is not for sale. We are restraining ourselves because the people are with us. Nobody should push us because we have what it takes to confront anyone trying to destabilise us.
“We want to tell Mr President that he has earned our votes. He gave us what we had never had in Eastern Nigeria — the office of the Minister of Works. And this Minister of Works is not sitting idle; he is working,” he stated.
Senator Umahi, in his remarks, said President Tinubu had done what no other President had done for Ebonyi State and the entire South-East by executing numerous projects across the state and the region.
“Ebonyi State is a one-party state under Governor Francis Ogbonna Nwifuru. We are not going to repeat the mistakes of the past.
“President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has done a lot, not just for Ebonyi State but for the entire South-East and other geopolitical zones,” he said.