BY SEGUN ADEBAYO, ABUJA – The Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) has reacted to the constitution of a 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 Labour in the state, stressing that it is a joke taken too far.
Labour also said the setting up of the Commission of Inquiry is nothing but an abuse of executive powers of a governor and a complete waste of the resources of the state.
It stressed that 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 NLC’s peacefully protesting members in the full glare of television cameras and under the watchful eye of the police.
The NLC the asked; “How therefore can there be justice when one is Judge in one’s own case”, adding that Governor Nasir El-Rufai ought to know and appreciate the fact that he cannot be a judge in his own case.
El-Rufai while constituting the Judicial Commission of Inquiry directed its members 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 State government also directed the Commission to look at the role played by various individuals and organisations including the Nigeria Police Force and determine or recommend consequential action(s).
However, while taking a critical look at the composition of the Commission, the NLC in a statement by its President, Comrade Ayuba Wabba said that there is the need for Governor El-Rufai to know and appreciate that Labour and industrial relations issues are on the Exclusive Legislative List of the Constitution.
Wabba noted that this trend by El-Rufai 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.
The NLC boss declared that the process that led to the action was legally or lawfully competent, adding that 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), stressing that El-Rufai cannot be a judicial body.
In the words of Wabba; “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.
“It is trite knowledge that inclusive in its inherent powers, the National Industrial Court is vested with 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 Government 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,” the NLC President said.
The NLC also said; “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 advise 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”.
In the meantime, the NLC has averred that its statutory notice on the escalation of the strike/protest action as given by its National Executive Council effective from 22nd June 2021, stands running.
It further said; “In furtherance of this, all our affiliate trade unions and members across the country are to step up mobilization”.
