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The head of service
of Ondo State, Ajose Kudehinbu, national officials of the Nigeria
Labour Congress (NLC), and those of the Federal Ministry of Labour
narrowly escaped being hurt at the 2011 Delegate Conference of the Ondo
State council of the Nigeria Labour Congress, held in Akure yesterday,
after the event degenerated into a fight.

The union leaders
threw decorum and caution to the wind as they hurled sachets of pure
water, plastics, and stones around freely.

Some labour leaders
who were against the congress election also threw stones and other
dangerous weapons at the high table, where Mr. Kudehinbu, who
represented the state governor, Olusegun Mimiko, sat.

The governor’s aide
on labour and union matters, Dayo Fadahunsi, had announced the
postponement of the election due to what he said was a security threat.
This, however, did not go down well with some members of the union who
felt that government was trying to impose its candidate on them, with a
view to infiltrating them.

The leaders of
major industrial unions in the state held a meeting where they agreed
that the election must go on as scheduled because the purported
petition threatening the conduct of the election was copied to neither
the state nor the national headquarters of the labour movement.

But the tension
over the congress became apparent when the outgoing chairman of the
state, Momodu Braimah, called the house to order for the congress.
Since majority of delegates at the congress voted that the election
should hold, Mr. Braimah presented the agenda of the conference.

New leader emerges

The atmosphere
became tense when Mr. Braimah started reading his address and the
report. When it became obvious that the aggrieved parties were not
going to be cooperative, he declared the address published and
presented. The same thing happened to the address of the national
president of the union, Abdulwaheed Omar.

The aggrieved
delegates, however, displayed their determination to disrupt the event
when Mr. Kudehinbu was about to present the governor’s address. As soon
as he handled the microphone, the protesters started chanting various
abusive songs while hauling different missiles at the table occupied by
the officials.

The head of service
hurriedly declared the conference opened without the normal protocol,
packed his papers, and was escorted out of the Ondo State Cultural
Centre Hall, venue of the conference, in Akure.

Bosede Daramola was
elected chairperson of the congress, after scoring 499 votes, as
against 7 votes scored by her opponent, Sotikare Olusegun.