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Dr. Ayuba Wabba
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Dr. Ayuba
Wabba has been elected president of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) at the
election held on Saturday in Abuja. Wabba, a former president of
the Medical and Health Workers Union, won the rescheduled two-day
election participated in by 3,119 delegates.
The election initially held on
February 12, but it was disrupted after some of the delegates alleged
that the process had been compromised, leading to the smashing of ballot boxes
and hijacking of some of the electoral materials from the officials.
TheCable reports:
His opponents were Joe Ajaero,
general secretary of the National Union of Electricity Employees, and Igwe
Achese, president of the Nigerian Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers.
Nasir Fagge, chairman of the
electoral committee and president of Academic Staff Union of Universities
(ASUU), declared Wabba winner on Saturday.
The rescheduled election, which
commenced about 6pm on Thursday, had taken place amid tight security at the
Eagle Square, Abuja. Still, it was not devoid of drama, as some
unions out of the 43 affiliate unions protested against “supposed” discrepancies
in the accreditation process.
According to Osmond Ugwu of the
Nigerian Civil Service Union, Enugu state who led the protest, few
delegates were nominated from the south-south and southeast to participate in
the election. He accused the NLC leadership of plotting to disenfranchise
the delegates from that section of the country.
Besides that minor blot, the
election progressed and was concluded without violence.
Wabba, who is notable for the health
workers’ strike he led against the government in 2014, would be heading a
congress that has been accused of “unconscionable” partisanship and corruption,
owing to NLC’s role in the botched 2012 fuel subsidy protests.
Wabba replaces Abdulwaheed Omar,
whose tenure expired earlier in the year.
Ex-president Omar was elected deputy president
at the 2003 NLC delegates congress, before winning the presidential election
four years later.
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