Why NLC, TUC can no longer represent workers – Tinubu

Bayo Onanuga, the henchman of President-elect, Bola Tinubu, says the National Labour Congress and the trade union congress have lost the moral justification to speak for Nigerian workers.

Onanuga, who was the Director of Media and Publicity for the dissolved All Progressives Congress Presidential Campaign Council, said the two labour bodies have become too partisan to represent the workers.

Speaking during an interview with Punch, he said NLC and TUC open support for the Labour Party and its presidential candidate and the last election, Peter Obi, has put a question mark on what they stand for.

Responding to questions on if Obi is a threat to the camp of Tinubu, he said Obi and his supporters have conducted themselves in a disgraceful manner since losing the presidential election.

He said “Honestly, I can’t understand Peter Obi and his supporters. The way they have taken the election and its aftermath smacks of desperation. After going to court, Obi and his running mate, Datti Baba-Ahmed, and the supporters that some writers have likened to a headless mob, have been throwing all manners of stones at the President-elect, impugning the integrity of the poll, assassinating his character.

“They have lobbed insults and lies against INEC officials, claiming they wanted to reclaim a so-called mandate, which they never got in the first instance. They are so loud and reckless about it, you wonder whether Obi came a close second. He was a distant third and did not even lead in plural votes or the spread.

“The latest joke is the Nigeria Labour Congress and Trade Union Congress, aligning with some highly compromised civil society groups, saying they are going to serve as the watchdog for the judiciary. In fact, the NLC declared that they are going to have a ‘Register of Shame’ for judges who make pronouncements they don’t like about the election. I don’t understand all that. That’s uncalled for. Of course, the NLC can’t do that.

“The congress is already a party in the election, being a member of the Labour Party. How can you claim that you want to be a watchdog for something that you are already a part of? The NLC and TUC are already heavily partisan and therefore have lost all moral rights to be a judge in the post-election legal fights. Looking at the future, I don’t even know how the NLC and TUC can now claim to represent all Nigerian workers having fully embraced the Labour Party”