Lucky Obukohwo, Reporting
Chairman, Caretaker Committee, Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), Edo State chapter, Prof. Monday Lewis Igbafen, has called on the state government to look for how to settle the leadership crisis in the union before calling for Workers Day celebration.
He made the appeal in a statement titled: “A May Day that must not hold” signed and made available to Journalists in Benin.
Prof. Igbafen said that the Workers Day belongs to the toiling working class — the proletariat, a day to reflect on the rights of labour, to honour the sweat and sacrifice of workers, and to celebrate their collective hands in building the wealth of nations and not to celebrate the conquest of workers’ autonomy, nor to mask the strangulation of independent trade unionism.
Igbafen argued that other state councils of the NLC across the federation may, perhaps, find reason to roll out drums on May Day but they, the Caretaker Committee of the Edo State NLC, speaking for every right-thinking worker in the state, declare without apology that the labour environment in Edo today cannot inspire celebration because of the division in the state NLC.
According to him, “Make no mistake: the Edo NLC is in a quagmire. We are locked in struggle against the combined forces of reactionaries, impostors, self-imposed leaders, political collaborators, and labour aristocrats. Every genuine effort to reposition this Council has been met with repression. Yet we are not in despair. The struggle continues.
“Therefore, let the record reflect this truth: No pretentious May Day organized, engineered, and bankrolled by compradors can ever keep alive the glorious philosophy of May Day.
“To the public, and especially to every well-meaning worker in Edo State, we say: Do not be deceived. The gathering scheduled for tomorrow at the Samuel Ogbemudia Stadium, Benin City, is no true reflection of May Day.
“It is a hoax. Genuine labour leaders and true workers have resolved to stay indoors to mourn, in silence, the present travails of labour in our state.
“Let the public be rescued from this deception. Let it be known: tomorrow’s assembly is powered neither by the legitimate leadership of the NLC in Edo State, nor by the National Leadership of Congress. Those behind it are usurpers and hijackers of the Edo State Council of the NLC.
“History is our witness. Globally, governments and employers are not known to be the direct organizers of May Day. Yet here we are, confronted by a tense government circular dated April 22, 2026: mandating compulsory attendance for all civil and public servants; deploying state-funded buses to ferry workers from every corner of the state; and issuing veiled threats of sanction against defaulters. But civil and public servants are not the only workers. May Day belongs to all who labour.
“We do not reject government support for a successful May Day. But we must condemn, in the strongest terms, the open takeover of its organization. This is not assistance, it is interference. It is a violent intrusion into the affairs of the trade union movement in Edo State. It is the very undue meddling that this Caretaker Committee has sworn to defeat.
“Yes, over-politicization has brought the Edo NLC to its knees. But not beyond redemption. This Caretaker Committee, the legitimate leadership of the State Council, has been misrepresented, despite our unwavering commitment to permanently resolve this crisis.
“Tragically, the same actors who drove Edo NLC into a coma now hide beneath the cover of government, resisting every peaceful path to resolution.
“To the teeming workers of Edo State, we give this assurance: The illegitimate reign of labour aristocrats is a passing phase. Let us not grow weary. Let us pursue, by peaceful means, the return of the Edo NLC to its rightful custodians, to legitimate leaders, and to the mainstream of the labour movement in Nigeria”
Igbafen further said those who fought for the survival of the NLC will not be pleased with the sudden turn of events in Edo State chapter of the NLC.
“Let us speak truth: Pa Imoudu would not sanction it. Festus Iyayi would not recognize it. Peter Ozo-Eson would not sit in silence. They would not; they could not reckon with tomorrow’s gathering masquerading in the name of Workers’ Day. Their spirit rejects it. Their memory rebukes it”, Igbafen said.
