2023: NLC, TUC urge Nigerian workers to vote Peter Obi

The Nigeria Labour Congress, NLC and Nigeria Trade Union, TUC have told members to resist attempts to truncate the next month’s general elections by politicians.

This was disclosed in a statement by Andrew Emelieze, National coordinator of the group which a copy was sent to Congress correspondent on Friday.

The groups said Nigerians had been in turmoil for the past seven years under the President Muhammadu Buhari administration.

The statement reads: “The past seven years has been the tales of woes and lamentation. It has been from one crisis to the order, more of an endless degeneration as if the situation is irreparable. The Nigeria workers have been visited with unexpected hardship and confusion has been an order. Our people have never had it this bad. Besides the reign of mass hunger and poverty in the land, our people are daily murdered in cold blood and our so called government has not been able to call the sawage to order. Lamentation has taken over the lips of Nigerians and our people are regretting voting President Muhammadu Buhari and the APC to power.

“As a matter of facts, governance in the past seven year has been a catastrophic disaster and Nigerians have been paying the price of bad governance and abysmal poor leadership. The Nigerian workers, unemployed and the retirees are the worse hit. Workers have been suffering in silence in the face of hellish existence. Businesses have been crumbling and everything collapsing in Nigeria.

“Infact, it is as if a shadow is cast on Nigeria. Buhari’s government has not been able to fulfill at least one of her electoral promises rather it has been the reign of terror , horror and massive corruption in the last seven years.National values are daily eroded and our national currency deliberately devalued.

“Recent events has shown that attempts are being made to truncate the 2023 general elections. The general insecurity challenge and the attack on INEC facilities confirm that there are hidden agenda somewhere to frustrate the 2023 general elections.

“The Nigerian working people are however called upon to resist any attempt to truncate the 2023 general elections and or the rigging of the elections.

“The workers movement is sending this letter to the Nigerian workers, unemployed, students and the retirees to massively vote for the labour party in the 2023 general elections

“The labour party is our only option on the ballot. It is our party, a worker’s party must not be denied at this crucial time. This is the more reason the NLC/TUC, the labour movement in Nigeria, the left, the student unions and the conscious civil society groups must rally round the labour party and ensure that the toiling masses are mobilized to vote for all the candidates of the labour party in the coming elections.

“The labour movement is called upon to take advantage of the nascent acceptance and popularity of the labour party and turn it around for the goal of a workers state. Labour party has never had it so good, labour movement must not allow this growing love for the labour party slip away. However bad it has been with labour party in projecting the workers ideology, it is better we engage from within than fighting from outside. Yours sincerely, as a working class, we should all commend the leadership of the labour party for their charisma in projecting the party, it is time to complement their efforts. The mere fact that Peter Obi and Danti had ran to the labour party to pick their Presidential tickets shows that they know the strength and worth of labour; lets not disappoint ourselves. Comrades the time for our intervention is now. We need to give direction and mobilize the proletariat for victory at the polls. The left and the labour movement cannot afford to sit on the fence

“We also want to call on all progressive political parties to merge with the Labour party to form a formidable coalition and ensure the end of the elite rule of the APC, and the PDP.

“Our people have suffered enough. We definitely cannot continue like this. This 2023 general elections is a trying period for Nigeria, what we make of it will certainly determine the future of Nigeria.

“The labour party is a mass party of the workers, students, unemployed, retirees, and the deprived people of Nigeria, together we can make a Nigeria that works for us all.
The Convergence therefore call on the working class , traders, artisans, farmers, students, the unemployed and the retirees to vote for their party, the labour party that is a mass party of the denied people of Nigeria.

“The NLC and the TUC is specifically being called upon to come all out openly and campaign for the labour party.

“The left and other conscious groups are also called upon to maintain and sustain the culture of support for the labour party. It is also better for the left to constitute a block within the labour party and be able to gradually influence the activities of the party rather than abandoning the party.

“All denied people of Nigeria are called upon to get their permanent voters card and vote massively for all candidates of the labour party in the coming elections”.