The unfolding dispute between the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) and a pro-President Bola Ahmed Tinubu support group has opened a bigger question ahead of the 2027 elections: can organised labour dictate who its members should vote for?

The question is at the heart of a growing confrontation over Working People United (WoPU), a support group led by the immediate past President of the Nigeria Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers (NUPENG), Comrade Williams Akporeha.

The NLC national secretariat reportedly directed presidents and general secretaries of its affiliate unions to steer clear of WoPU, which is mobilising support for Tinubu’s re-election in 2027.

The directive has, however, met resistance, particularly after the inauguration of WoPU’s Lagos State chapter, where NLC Lagos Council Chairman, Comrade Agnes Sessi, serves as the state coordinator.

Her participation in the event, attended by Lagos State Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu and APC governorship candidate Obafemi Hamzat, subsequently attracted a query from the NLC national leadership.

In a memo dated August 11, 2026, and signed by the NLC Deputy General Secretary and Head of Information, Public Affairs and Education Department, Benson Upah, Sessi was asked to explain her involvement with WoPU.

The national secretariat accused her of acting contrary to the Congress’s directives, undermining the authority of the national body and supporting what it described as a parallel organisation.

But WoPU has reframed the controversy as a battle over the freedom of workers to make their own political decisions.

Akporeha argued that while the NLC may adopt institutional positions, it cannot compel individual workers to vote for a particular candidate or political party.

He cited Section 40 of the 1999 Constitution, which guarantees citizens the right to freely assemble and associate with others, including belonging to political parties, trade unions and other associations.

According to him, membership of a labour union does not extinguish a worker’s political independence.

A worker can belong to the NLC, support its legitimate labour struggles and still vote for a candidate different from the one favoured by the union’s leadership.

Akporeha accused the NLC leadership under Comrade Joe Ajaero of attempting to extend its institutional influence into the voting choices of individual workers.

He alleged that the Congress had previously sought to mobilise workers behind the Labour Party during the 2023 elections and was attempting to repeat the approach ahead of 2027.

WoPU maintained that its membership cuts across professionals, artisans, traders, market men and women, and workers in both the formal and informal sectors who have independently chosen to support Tinubu.

The group argued that no union leadership can take away an individual worker’s right to decide, in the privacy of the ballot box, who deserves his or her vote.

That argument could become increasingly significant as the 2027 elections approach.

For organised labour, the challenge is to distinguish between a collective political position and an attempt to enforce political conformity.

A union may endorse a candidate. It may campaign. It may mobilise its members. But the ultimate decision belongs to the individual voter.

And when the ballot is cast, there is no union card, labour position or political directive that can lawfully substitute for the conscience of the individual worker.

The emerging NLC-WoPU dispute therefore goes beyond one support group or one Lagos labour leader. It has raised a fundamental democratic question ahead of 2027: workers may belong to the same union, but must they vote the same way?

WoPU’s answer is an emphatic no.