Asaba — LEADERSHIP of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) in the nine oil producing states of the country yesterday asked the Northern states to withdraw the lawsuit instituted against the abrogation of the oil dichotomy, or be prepared to face unpleasant consequencies should they fail to comply, saying that workers in the region (oil states) were already being mobilised to confront them.
Rising from a meeting in Asaba, Delta State capital, the NLC in the oil states namely: Delta, Edo, Rivers, Cross River, Akwa-Ibom, Bayelsa, Imo, Ondo and Abia, warned on the implication of the Northern states’ lawsuit, noting that if not carefully handled, it was capable of breaking the country.
As part of the strategy aimed at checkmating the antics of the Northern governors over the lawsuit, the NLC in the Niger Delta region said that it is planning to hold series of rallies in the country which is expected to kick off in a few weeks time in Akwa-Ibom State.
In a communique read out by the Co-ordinating Chairman of NLC Chairmen and Secretaries from the nine oil producing states, Comrade Udo Akpan, the NLC stated that “the oil dichotomy suit embarked upon by the 19 northern states and three others from the West is something every right-thinking Nigerian must condemn. This is because having being out of the crisis of who controls what, and what should be left to who, few months ago, it will be unwise for a set of people to drag the Federal Government and oil states to court in the name of the same law that was passed by the National Assembly and signed into law by the President of Nigeria.
"We are saying that the governors of these states should, as a matter of respect to this region (Niger Delta), go and withdraw that suit from the Supreme Court if we must continue to be brothers; and we are saying that if it is their will to use that as a machinery to break the country, the working people of Niger Delta will assist them to do that because we cannot afford if in an area that is bastardised we continue to support what is not correct.
"We know that when groundnut and all other resources were operational in the North and West that was what they used in developing their areas so we cannot succumb to their pressure by giving to them what is not their own.
“We also agreed that to ensure that the working people are mobilized in case they decide not to withdraw their suits, that series of rallies and consultations and mobilization will commence and the first part of the rallies will take place in Akwa-Ibom state in a few weeks from now. Everybody in the Niger Delta, the working people shall be part of it. We will start a process of mobilizing every worker in the Niger Delta to get prepared for any action that might take effect emanating from any refusal to withdraw the suit”, it stated.
The communique also condemned the Labour bill and urged the National Assembly to jettison it in the interest of justice, equity and fairplay.
