- Learn to Respect Your Office, Labour Laws, NLC Responds
- I’m Yet to Be Informed of Appointment – Comrade Chom Bagu
GOVERNOR Nasir el-Rufai of Kaduna State on Tuesday announced the establishment of a Judicial Commission of Inquiry into the five-day warning strike and street protests called by the Nigerian Labour Congress (NLC) in May 2021 as a resistance against the sack of thousands of the state’s public service workers since 2017.
But in a swift riposte, NLC President, Comrade Ayuba Wabba, has advised the governor “to learn to respect his office, the oath of office he took, our Labour Laws and the MoU his Government voluntarily signed with Organised Labour.”
Comrade Wabba said the notice given by the NLC on 22nd June 2021 to embark on a nationwide strike/protest action over the Kaduna mass sack stands, as he asked all NLC Affiliates unions and members across the country to step up mobilisation. A definite date is yet to be given for the nationwide showdown.
Governor el-Rufai had penultimate Monday, after a meeting with President Buhari, made public in a statement by his Special Adviser on Media and Communications, Mr Muyiwa Adekeye, his plan to establish the commission of inquiry to look into the three-day warning strike in order to bring the NLC to account.
The governor also admitted to President Buhari that he had jettisoned the Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) the state government reached with the NLC at a meeting facilitated by the Minister of Labour and Productivity, Dr Chris Ngige, who had ‘apprehended’ the five-day warning strike and street protests on the third day of the mass action.
The NLC on Tuesday last week fired back at the Kaduna governor, describing him as “power drunk” and someone who “needs help and fast.” The NLC, in a statement signed by its President, Comrade Ayuba Wabba, also said there was urgent “need to put a stop to the megalomaniac pretensions” of Governor el-Rufai or Nigeria stands the risk of endangering her fledgling democracy.
The Commission of Inquiry
In a statement early Tuesday, July 6, 2021, signed by Mr Adekeye, the state government announced the appointment of Justice Ishaq Bello, a retired Judge, as chairman of the Commission of Inquiry.
Other members of the commission as contained in the statement include former Attorney-General of Cross River State, Justice Eyo Ekpo, Mrs Joan Jatau-Kadiya, former Attorney General of Kaduna State, and Comrade Chom Bagu, a former Assistant General of NLC and Deputy National Secretary of the Nigerian Union of Journalists (NUJ). Other listed by Mr Adekeye include AVM Rabiu Dabo, Dr Nasirudeen Usman and Malam Mohammed Isah Aliyu.
Also appointed are Mr. Daniel Chukwudi Enwelum (SAN) as Counsel to the Commission, and Mr. Musa Kakaki (Esq) as Secretary to the Commission.
When contacted via sms and WhatsApp message to find out if he has been informed by the Kaduna State Government on his appointment as a member of the Commission, Comrade Chom Bagu responded: “I’m yet to be informed about any such appointment. When they contact me, I will then decide what to do.”
According to Mr Adekeye, “the Judicial Commission of Inquiry is constituted based on the 1999 Constitution and the Commissions of Inquiry Law CAP 34, Laws of Kaduna State1991.”
Governor el-Rufai gave the Commission 14 terms of reference, asking it to among others; ascertain the legality of the warning strike, the actions of various persons and organisations; determine whether such actions amount to any breach of the Trade Union Act, the Trade Disputes Act, the Trade Disputes (Essential Services) Act, the Miscellaneous Offenses Act, the Quarantine Act, the Public Health Law and Penal Code Law of Kaduna State and other laws.
The Commission is also mandated to, ascertain the economic losses incurred during the strike, assign responsibility for actions and make recommendations for appropriate actions, including civil remedies, criminal prosecution and policy measures.
Lined up to face the commission along with the NLC President, Comrade Ayuba Wabba; include Comrade Joe Ajaero; Deputy President of NLC and General Secretary of the National Union of Electricity Employees (NUEE), and Comrade Ayuba Suleiman, the Kaduna State Council Chairperson of NLC.
Also listed to appear before the Commission include federal security and other statutory organisations such as the Nigeria Police Force, the Nigerian Army, the Nigerian Air Force, the Department of State Services (DSS).
Others include the Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN); the Kaduna Electricity Distribution Company (KAEDCO); the Nigeria Railway Corporation (NRC); Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN); Federal Ministry of Labour, Employment and Productivity (sic); Federal Ministry of Power; Federal Ministry of Transportation; Federal Ministry of Aviation; and any other association(s), organisation(s) or person(s) that the Commission may consider necessary.
El-Rufai Cannot Be Judge in His Own Case – NLC
In a statement Tuesday evening, signed by NLC President, Comrade Wabba, as a response to the establishment of the Commission, the NLC said Governor el-Rufai cannot be judge over his own case.
“One of the dangers of one being a Judge in one’s case is manifested in this extant matter by virtue of the fact that the Governor/Government glaringly neglected to cite itself for sanction even as it procured and deployed thugs that inflicted grievous injuries on our peacefully protesting members in the full glare of television cameras and under the watchful eye of the police. How therefore can there be justice when one is Judge in one’s own case,” Comrade Wabba stated, as he counselled Governor el-Rufai “to learn to respect his office, the oath of office he took, our Labour Laws and the MoU his Government voluntarily signed with Organised Labour.”
Read NLC’s full statement below:
EL-RUFAI CANNOT BE JUDGE IN HIS OWN CASE
Press Release
Our attention has been drawn to the Judicial Commission of Inquiry set up by the Kaduna State Government to look into the remote and immediate causes of the warning strike action by the Nigeria Labour Congress from May 16 – 19, 2021, its legality and the impact on the state and other entities.
The Commission of Inquiry is also to look at the role played by various individuals and organisations including our own Nigeria Police Force and determine or recommend consequential action(s).
Without prejudice to the right of a state government to set up a commission of inquiry, and although we have the greatest respect for the Chairman of the Commission, Justice Ishaq Bello and members of the Commission (save hirelings/hatchet men), we would think this is a joke taken too far, an abuse of executive powers of a governor and a waste of the resources of the state.
But then, this trend would seem to be a logical sequence to the powers (that he wrongfully appropriated) that made him declare wanted Labour leaders during the warning strike.
But beside this, we would want to state unequivocally that the warning strike was purely a Labour dispute and industrial relations action legitimised by the 1999 constitution (as amended) and the corpus of our Labour Law as the rights to strike and protest by workers and their trade unions are universal rights guaranteed by the provisions of international labour conventions which Nigeria has ratified.
Similarly, the process that led to the action was legally or lawfully competent.
And in the unlikely event that it became a subject of litigation, the appropriate judicial body would be a court of competent jurisdiction as provided for by the 1999 constitution, (as amended) as El-Rufai cannot be a judicial body. More so is the fact that Labour and industrial relations issues are on the Exclusive Legislative List.
It is trite knowledge that inclusive in its inherent powers, the National Industrial Court is vested powers to invoke global best practices in resolving disputes through adjudication.
It is equally important to point out that Mr El-Rufai or the Kaduna State is a party to this dispute. In furtherance of one of the core principles of law which states that one cannot be a Judge in one ‘s case, we do not see how Mr El-Rufai/Kaduna State Goverment could be Judge in this matter and we would still have justice given his repeated boast that he would deal with labour leaders and those who took part in the strike action….and that by the time he was done, they would never again set their feet in Kaduna.
One of the dangers of one being a Judge in one’s case is manifested in this extant matter by virtue of the fact that the Governor/Government glaringly neglected to cite itself for sanction even as it procured and deployed thugs that inflicted grievous injuries on our peacefully protesting members in the full glare of television cameras and under the watchful eye of the police. How therefore can there be justice when one is Judge in one’s own case.
In light of this, we advise the Governor to learn to respect his office, the oath of office he took, our Labour Laws and the MoU his Government voluntarily signed with Organised Labour.
Meanwhile, we aver that our statutory notice on the escalation of this strike/protest action as given by our National Executive Council effective from 22nd June 2021 stands. running. In furtherance of this, all our affiliate trade unions and members across the country are to step up mobilisation.
Comrade Ayuba Wabba, mni
President
