NLC Sacks Edo Council, Orders Freezing of Accounts over Leadership Crisis

The Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) on Tuesday announced the immediate dissolution of its Edo State Administrative Council and ordered the freezing of all accounts operated by the council, citing constitutional provisions.

The development follows recent moves by the national leadership of the NLC, which dissolved the Edo State council and appointed Prof. Lewis Igbafen, Benin Zonal Coordinator of the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU), as caretaker committee chairman.

In a letter dated August 15, 2025, and addressed to managers of one of the old generation banks, Acting General Secretary of the NLC, Mr. Benson Upah, directed that all accounts linked to the dissolved Edo State Council be frozen with immediate effect.

“Consequent upon the dissolution, all accounts operated by or on behalf of the NLC Edo State Council should be frozen,” the letter stated. Upah warned that any bank or financial institution that disregards the directive and transacts with “unauthorised persons or entities does so at its own risk and shall be held liable for any resulting financial or legal consequences.”

He added that only directives duly issued by the NLC national headquarters should henceforth be honoured on matters relating to the Edo council accounts.

However, the Edo State Administrative Council (SAC) and State Executive Council (SEC) rejected the move, urging the public to disregard the appointment of the five-man caretaker committee constituted by NLC President, Comrade Joe Ajaero, and former Edo NLC chairman, Odion Olaye.

In a statement issued in Benin City, the Edo NLC councils described the committee as “an attempt to undermine the state’s stability.”
“We do not only reject the committee purportedly set up by Joe Ajaero and Odion Olaye; we also view the caretaker committee as an attempt to undermine the state’s stability,” the statement read.

It further accused Ajaero of attempting to impose “a connived contraption” on Edo workers, insisting that labour relations in the state had remained peaceful since Olaye’s removal by affiliate unions and the emergence of the Bernard Joman-led executive.

Meanwhile, the NLC national leadership has defended its action, maintaining that the directive was issued in accordance with the NLC Constitution and extant labour laws, stressing that compliance is mandatory.