The Organisation of Trade Union of West Africa (OTUWA) and the Non-Academic Staff Union of Educational and Associated Institutions (NASU) have maintained that trade union centres have a right to participate in partisan politics.
  
Speaking in Abuja with The Guardian following a caution by the Registrar of Trade Union against incursion into partisan politics by trade unionists, the Executive Secretary of OTUWA, John Odah and General Secretary of NASU, Peters Adeyemi, declared their opposition to the directive of the Registrar.
  
Odah argued that what is known to labour bodies globally is not deploying workers’ check-off dues to political activities. He said: “The trade unions are very clear about how to deploy workers’ check-off dues. Check-off dues are not expected to be used to fund the activities of political parties. Outside of this, trade unionists have equal rights like every citizen of this country to form and belong to any political party of our choice.”
  
Odah wondered why the government is seeking to resurrect an issue that has been settled by the highest court in the country, saying, “The Supreme Court has already made a pronouncement on this. We are saying, to try and use the Registrar of Trade Union to raise what is essentially a non-issue will be very problematic and unfortunate.”  Odah recalled how President Bola Tinubu worked in collaboration with labour unions in the past either as an opposition leader or as an activist.
  
“People in this current government know that the Nigerian trade unions have been very active in politics. Concerning President Bola Tinubu, his Action Congress (AC) worked in collaboration with the Labour Party which the Nigeria Labour Congress formed, to support Adams Oshiomhole to contest the Edo state gubernatorial election in 2007.     “Therefore, it does not make sense to us in the labour movement that a government headed by the same man will now say that central labour bodies cannot form or support political parties. Right from colonial times, the anti-colonial struggles were formed by the trade unions. The late Michael Imoudu’s work in the Nigerian Railway Corporation did not stop him from participating in the NCNC delegation that went to England to negotiate Nigeria’s independence. During the second republic, Imoudu was a Vice Chairman of the Peoples Redemption Party.”
  
The OTUWA scribe revealed that in 1989, under the military regime of General Ibrahim Babangida, the Labour Party was one of the parties that went around the country to mobilise members to participate in the process, though the regime did not register the party eventually.
  
He added: “When the SDP and NRC were formed, our members played active roles. Late Pascal Bafyau and Frank Kokori were prominent members of the SDP.”  He insisted that the current labour leadership must not be hounded for engaging in age-long tradition.

 He stated: “There is no reason anybody should be harassing the present leaderships of NLC and TUC about being involved in politics because this is not strange to our country. Examples from the United Kingdom and elsewhere show that labour is actively involved in politics. Indeed, the party in government in the United Kingdom is the Labour Party. So, why would anyone intend to criminalise workers forming and participating in politics in Nigeria?”
  
On his part, Adeyemi declared that the Nigerian trade union has not created any impression that it is above the law or does not want to be supervised or regulated.

He cited politicians who have used the Labour Party platform to realise their political ambitions. His words: “The trade union in Nigeria formed the Labour Party. In this same country, we have had prominent politicians who used the Labour Party platform to contest elections. Former President of the NLC, Adams Oshiomhole used that platform. Former governor of Ondo state, Olusegun Mimiko won his election as a governor under the same platform. In all those elections, Nigerian workers voted and participated actively in the process. We have the African National Congress (ANC) of South Africa which is largely populated by COSATU members.”
  
Echoing Odah’s position, Adeyemi said what is known is that union dues cannot be used to sponsor political activities. He provided more insights saying, “It is not that we cannot partake or participate in political activities. We can contribute money to political parties to execute political activities by imposing ‘political levies’ on our members to drive political activities.”He stated that Tinubu’s government is trying to muzzle opposition voices which is unhealthy for the polity.
  
“I think this is an attempt to muzzle the trade unions’ views. Strangely, we are having this kind of disposition from a government that is being led by an activist. The labour movement worked with and was in the trenches with the current President of the Republic. So, it is amazing that for reasons best known to those in government, they now want to remind us of our responsibilities as trade union leaders. 
  
“There is nothing that has taken away our right to participate in the partisan politics of Nigeria. If we do not have a right to participate in politics, why do we have a right to form a political party that is registered by an agent of the government? It seems this government is desperate not to allow voices of opposition. That would be very unfortunate,” he said.