One, it is what Labour parties all over the world do. Two, if Labour does not play politics, who will play politics? Labour is politics, politics is Labour. 419 people, scammers are now governors who refuse to pay workers their legitimate wages. Politics should be left for armed robbers? A former IGP went to the Senate and was shocked at the number of fraudsters he prosecuted sitting in the hallowed chambers as senators. Soldiers are politicians. Two retired generals have been Presidents of this country. Are they more qualified than Labour? Bring all those people who are criticizing Labour’s role in politics and let us compare their consciousness and my consciousness and see if they can talk when we are talking. Labour’s involvement in politics started as far back as 1917 or 1918. Wallace Johnson, a journalist from Sierra Leone, was the first to set up a Labour Party in Nigeria. He lived in Lagos. In the 1930s and 1940s it took an alliance between the Michael Imoudu-led Labour, the Zikist Movement and Aminu Kano’s party, after the 1945 Nigerian Railway workers’ strike, to fight for Nigeria’s independence with great consciousness. In 1954, the same Imoudu and others set up Labour Party which existed till the intervention of the military in 1966.
In 1987, Comrade Paschal Bafyau set up Labour Party that came fourth during Babangida’s political experiment. That Labour Party merged with the SDP which won the 1993 presidential election. Frank Kokori was the National Publicity Secretary of the SDP. Paschal Bafyau was to be the vice presidential candidate of the SDP. When Chief Abiola was in detention, it took Paschal Bafyau to go to court to secure Abiola’s bail, but his supporters prevailed on him not to come out because the bail was conditional. In 2003, Adams Oshiomhole, as NLC President, set up the current Labour Party, LP. An alliance between Oshiomhole’s Labour Party and Tinubu’s Action Congress made Oshiomhole the Governor of Edo State. The same Oshiomhole later became the APC National Chairman. Each time Labour is taking a stand for the salvation of this country, you see a lot of blackmail trailing it. My colleague, Comrade Nasir Irish, is the Governor of Kebbi State; we were both Deputy Presidents. He is in the APC. Another person who was the state Chairman of the NLC is now the Deputy Governor of Niger State. Nobody says every Labour person must be in Labour Party. I have attended two political rallies. One for Oshiomhole during his inauguration as the Governor of Edo State, and the second was for the Governor of Kebbi State. Many people told me they were expecting me to be at the inauguration of Dr Alex Otii as the Labour Party Governor of Abia State. We formed Labour Party so as to provide easy tickets for struggling Nigerians who wanted to contest elections. A political party sold its presidential nomination form for N100 million! When we analysed the situation, we said we needed a political party where the son of nobody can achieve any height in Nigeria. We have achieved that. As we talk today, two Okada riders are members of the National Assembly on Labour Party tickets. A messenger, a clerk can come and we will give him form. We have no apologies for that. The Governor of Imo State, was he a messenger anywhere? Was he a clerk anywhere? If you bring a clerk here, he will know there is admin department, there is finance department, he must come to work at a particular time in the morning, and if he comes late, he knows what is waiting for him. If a person like that becomes a public officer, he will know the sacredness of certain things, like ensuring that those who work get their wages. Let me make it clear. The NLC cannot be part of any political party except the Labour Party.
However, our members are free to join any party of their choice. Indeed, majority of our members are affiliated with other parties. Peter Obi who is always being mentioned became the presidential candidate of the Labour Party before I emerged as NLC President. We will not be deterred in our effort to help make the Labour Party the party that will meet the aspirations of all Nigerians. There is fear about anything Labour. That was why when we registered a political party we called it the Party for Social Democracy (PSD). It was during our national conference that we changed the name to Labour Party. For political jobbers to be attacking us because of our legitimate affiliations, it is uncalled for.
THE LION’s EXTRACT from An Interview on Vanguard
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