THE EDO State House of Assembly is facing a blistering and unprecedented rebuke from the national leadership of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) after it brazenly overstepped its constitutional boundaries to meddle in the internal affairs of the Congress, an intervention described as the “height of ignorance” in a scathing press statement.
The Edo Assembly called for the mockery when it passed a resolution urging the NLC to allow Comrade Bernard Jormah Egwahide to finish a purported term as chairperson of NLC’s state council.
In response to the resolution, NLC’s Acting General Secretary, Comrade Benson Upah, did not mince words in eviscerating the lawmakers for what he termed an “obscene obsequiousness” to the state governor, Monday Okpehbolo, and a fundamental misunderstanding of both labour law and the Nigerian Constitution.
At the heart of NLC’s fury is the assertion that the Assembly’s resolution is built upon a foundation of falsehoods. The Congress categorically states that Comrade Jormah Egwahide was never elected to the position.
The duly elected chairperson, NLC said, was Comrade Odion Olaye, whose legitimate tenure was “unlawfully” truncated halfway by Governor Okpehbolo through what Comrade Upah described as an act of executive interference which the Congress had already deemed unacceptable.
The NLC’s then dismantled the Assembly’s logic layer by layer, noting that even if the removal of Olaye were to be accepted, the succession plan would not, and could never, involve the NLLC State Auditor, described as the “least in rank.”
The lawful line of succession, the statement clarifies, would see a Vice Chairperson or another ranking executive step in pending a new election.
According to the NLC, this glaring procedural absurdity raises a damning question: “How come the Auditor… is being imposed by the Governor of Edo State?”, a question the Assembly’s resolution conspicuously did not address.
NLC therefore severely lashed the Assembly’s breath-taking audacity to legislate on a matter entirely outside its jurisdiction.
“The State House of Assembly in light of this is advised to focus on its legislative duties including securing its independence instead of dabbling into jurisdictions over which it has no oversight,” the statement exhalts the lawmakers, as it also reminds them of a fundamental constitutional principle they appear to have forgotten: labour matters reside on the Exclusive Legislative List, meaning only the National Assembly has the power to make laws concerning them.
“[T]he law is clear. Neither the State government nor the State House of Assembly is vested with powers to appoint or elect officers for Congress. This constitutes gross interference in the affairs of trade unions and a violation of the provisions of the 1999 Constitution (as amended)”, the NLC said, ending the statement with a note of finality: “This resolution therefore goes to no issue and is of no effect whatsoever.”
