President of Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), Joe Ajaero, says the body has written a letter to President Bola Tinubu, seeking an audience with him over the Local Government crisis in Osun State.
Daily Trust reports that the state had been thrown into crisis over the legitimacy of elected council officials.
The standoff has crippled governance at the third tier of government in the state, with the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and All Progressives Congress (APC) officials laying claim to the 30 council secretariats and the Area Offices.
The development has also led to industrial action by the Nigeria Union of Local Government Employees (NULGE), which shut down operations across all local councils since February.
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Speaking with newsmen in Abeokuta, Ogun State, on the sidelines of the NLC’s National Administrative Council (NAC) and the Central Working Committee meeting,
Ajaero said the NLC has written a letter to the president over the Osun impasse.
“We have written a letter to the president for an audience (on the Osun LG crisis). The idea of relating with the President on the pages of newspapers is not the best.
“There are things you need to take up. The NLC had written a letter to Mr President. So, a lot of things may come up,” he said.
The NLC President, however, cautioned the feuding parties against abuse in trying to obey the court judgements.
He said, “The matter is before us and we wish to state clearly that in trying to obey the Supreme Court and the provisions of the constitution, nobody should equally abuse that same constitution.
“The issue of signatory to Local Government accounts is usually, in all instances, by the treasurer of the Local Government and Head of Administration, if there is any other circular contrary to this, then that circular needs to be reconsidered. That’s our position.”
He explained that although the NLC will not join issues with any of the parties, the body would always identify with its members “where issues affect their existence and continued discharge of their duties.”
On the allocation, Ajaero said “I am not looking at the court judgement stricto sensu, but I am looking at what is the practice. Of the 35 other states, how is it done, because Osun State cannot be an exception
He said the Supreme Court should be approached again for interpretation of its earlier ruling as it affects the Osun State crisis.
“The supreme court should be approached again to give an interpretation of its earlier ruling because the Supreme Court can’t give a ruling that is confusing and creating more problems,” the NLC president said.
