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JUST IN: Ajaero Mobilises NLC Members To Take Over LP Offices Nationwide

Published

5 months ago

April 8, 2025

The President of the Nigerian Labour Congress, Joe Ajaero, on Tuesday, wrote union leaders to begin the process of mobilising their members in readiness to invade and take over the 36 offices and national secretariat of the Labour Party in Abuja.

Ajaero gave the directive in an internal memo made available to The PUNCH in Abuja.

The NLC president’s directive comes in the wake of Friday’s judgment of the Supreme Court which vacated earlier judgment of the lower courts.

The move was reminiscent of the March 21, 2024 invasion where aggrieved unionists broke into LP headquarters and other offices, an act that the National Working Committee said was a deliberate action to steal their sensitive documents and money.

But Ajaero insisted that they could not fold their hands and watch Abure and his team defy the Supreme Court’s pronouncement.

He said, “Just as we warned him about a year ago that Nigerian workers and genuine members of the Labour Party will always collect what belongs to them no matter how long a mischief lasts. By this communication, we urge every worker in Nigeria, all genuine members of the Labour Party and all lovers of democracy, to be on standby to once again peacefully repossess all offices of the Labour Party nationwide.

“The leadership of the NLC Political Commission and other concerned Labour Party stakeholders will issue necessary directives to this effect. We are also putting all the security agencies, especially the Nigeria Police Force and the State Security Service, on notice that they have a constitutional duty to enable and enforce the judgement of the Supreme Court.

“We expect their cooperation as we pursue the rule of law. Any action to the contrary will present our dear country as a banana republic. Nigerian workers and people, especially genuine members of the Labour Party, will not sit back and watch unscrupulous elements desecrate Nigeria’s laws and the well-founded judgement of the Supreme Court.”

Continuing, Ajaero expressed shock that despite the judgment, Abure and his alleged co-travellers could still be parading themselves as national officers of the party.

The Labour leader bemoaned that the arrogance of the LP leadership and disregard for the rule of law was what made them invade their nationwide offices and secretariat last year.

To resolve the leadership vacuum in the party, the NLC president said the surviving institutional members of the LP National Executive Committee would appoint an interim leadership to conduct an inclusive National Convention in line with the provisions of the LP Constitution and the consent judgment.

This was even as he demanded the removal of Abure and his loyalists’ names from the portal of the Independent National Electoral Commission.

“Finally, we call on the Independent National Electoral Commission which had always pleaded alignment with the pronouncement of the court of law in the leadership issues in the Labour Party to give full effect to the conclusive judgment of the Supreme Court by removing every insignia of Mr Julius Abure and his National Working Committee from its portals,” the statement added.

Efforts to get the National Publicity Secretary of LP, Obiora Ifoh, were unsuccessful.

However, the National Secretary of the party, Alhaji Umar Farouk told our correspondent that they are preparing to release a statement in response to Ajaero’s threat.

“We will soon issue a statement on it. The threat is nothing new. We are used to their rascality,” he said. I

News

FG Shuts 22 Illegal Tertiary Institutions

Published

2 hours ago

August 25, 2025

Editor

The National Commission for Colleges of Education has uncovered and shut down 22 illegal Colleges of Education.

The discovery was made during a crackdown on illegal colleges of education in the country.

The development was revealed in the commission’s achievements, seen by our correspondent.

“The NCCE identified and shut down 22 illegal Colleges of Education operating across the country.

“The NCCE conducted personnel audit, financial monitoring in all the 21 federal colleges of education,” the commission said.

President Bola Tinubu had recently urged the National Universities Commission, the National Board for Technical Education and the National Commission for Colleges of Education to weed out illegal higher institutions of learning in the country.

Speaking at the 14th convocation of the National Open University of Nigeria in Abuja, the President ordered the NUC, the NBTE, and other agencies to take decisive action against what he described as “certificate millers” undermining the credibility of the education sector.

Tinubu, who was represented by the Director of University Education at the Federal Ministry of Education, Rakiya Ilyasu, warned that the integrity of the academic system must not be compromised.

“At this juncture, it has become imperative to reiterate that this administration remains committed to strengthening the integration of all agencies involved in the administration of education to enhance efficiency and quality,” the President said.

He added, “The National Youth Service Corps, the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board, the National Universities Commission, the National Board for Technical Education and the National Commission for Colleges of Education are working in alignment to improve the quality of education and ensure that cases of forgery and unrecognised institutions both within and outside the country have no place in our education ecosystem.”

News

EFCC Orders Arrest Of Dismissed Officer On Lege Miami’s Show

Published

3 hours ago

August 25, 2025

Editor

The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission has condemned the actions of one of its former staff, Olakunle Alex Folarin, who was recently spotted participating in a matchmaking programme on social media platforms hosted by popular entertainer Lege Miami.

The agency has ordered his immediate arrest for retaining official EFCC property, including an identity card, following his dismissal for certificate forgery.

The anti-graft agency, in a statement on its official X handle on Monday, said Folarin served as a driver at the EFCC’s Ibadan Zonal Directorate.

He was, however, dismissed after investigations confirmed he had forged his academic credentials.

It said, “The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, condemned in the strongest terms, the involvement of one of its former staff, Olakunle Alex Folarin, in a matchmaking programme running on Lege Miami social media platforms.”

“Folarin was recently dismissed from the Commission for certificate forgery. He was a driver at the Ibadan Zonal Directorate of the EFCC.”

The statement said EFCC Executive Chairma,n Mr. Ola Olukoyede, has ordered Folarin to be arrested and emphasised that Folarin’s actions should not be associated with the commission.

“The Executive Chairman of the EFCC, Mr. Ola Olukoyede, has ordered his arrest for being in possession of some Commission’s properties, including an identity card, which he should have handed over upon being dismissed from the EFCC.

“The public is advised against associating Folarin’s post-dismissal conduct with the EFCC,” the statement concluded.

News

NERC Transfers Regulation Of Electricity Market To Bayelsa

Published

4 hours ago

August 25, 2025

Editor

The Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission has transferred regulatory oversight of the electricity market in Bayelsa State to the Bayelsa Electricity Regulatory Agency.

In a notice on its social media handles on Monday, the commission said this was in compliance with the amended 1999 Constitution and the Electricity Act 2023.

“In compliance with the amended Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria and the Electricity Act 2023 (Amended), the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission has issued an order to transfer regulatory oversight of the electricity market in Bayelsa State from the Commission to the Bayelsa State Electricity Regulatory Agency,” the commission said.

Recall that with the Electricity Act 2023, the commission retains the role as a central regulator with regulatory oversight on the interstate/international generation, transmission, supply, trading, and system operations.

The Act also mandates any state that intends to establish and regulate intrastate electricity markets to deliver a formal notification of its processes and requests NERC to transfer regulatory authority over electricity operations in the state to the state regulator.

The transfer order by NERC directed Port Harcourt Electricity Distribution Company Plc to incorporate a subsidiary distribution company to assume responsibilities for intrastate supply and distribution of electricity in Bayelsa State from PHED.

PHED was also directed to complete the incorporation of PHED SubCo within 60 days from August 21, 2025.

“The subcompany shall apply for and obtain a licence for the intrastate supply and distribution of electricity from BYERA, among other directives,” the commission said.

It concluded that all transfers envisaged by the order shall be completed by February 20, 2026.

With this order, Bayelsa has joined states like Lagos, Imo, Ogun, Ondo, Ekiti, Enugu, Niger, Edo, Oyo and Plateau, which have got the power to regulate electricity markets.

The state can now generate, transmit, and distribute electricity while issuing licences to investors within the value chain.