By Jude Atupulazi
The protracted leadership tussle tearing apart the National Union of Local Government Employees, NULGE, Anambra State Chapter, has come to an end, with Comrade Chuddy Orakwue emerging the new President of the Union following the dismissal of the previous President by the Anambra State Government over alleged certificate forgery, reports Jude Atupulazi.
Comrade Orakwue, who stated this to Fides, July 24, days after the dismissal of the former President, however said he had been recognized by the Anambra State Government as the authentic President of the Union following a court judgement way back in 2022.
It will be recalled that the Government of Anambra State had issued a summary dismissal letter to the former President of the NULGE, Comrade Chikwelu Adigwe, owing to petitions against the authenticity of his employment by the camp of Chuddy Orakwue.
Speaking on the development, Orakwue said, ‘Now, the NULGE war is over; we are extending hands of fellowship to our brothers and sisters on the other side.
‘Let’s come together to harmonize our Union to grow, move forward, and achieve greater success,’ Comrade Orakwue said.
Orakwue, who noted that there had been a gap in relationship between the State Government and the Labour Union in the past years, pledged loyalty to the state Governor, Prof Chukwuma Soludo, for the overall interest of the Anambra NULGE.
According to him, ‘The Labour Union in Anambra State has not been actually carrying the Governor along, but now, we have come onboard, we in the local government system intend to carry him along as regards workers’ welfare.
‘Now the new minimum wage has been passed into law, I’m appealing to His Excellency, to let the new minimum wage reflect on our salary this month (July), and from the month of August, we talk of arrears for April, May, and June.
‘We can see what the Governor is doing for Ndi Anambra in terms of development and good governance.
‘For this, we are saying that there is no vacancy at Agu-Awka in 2025 because one good tenure deserves another tenure.
‘We will support him to make sure that, come 2025, he is going to emerge as the Governor of Anambra State for his second tenure.
‘We will also help him to improve internal revenue generation of Anambra State in the local government level,’ he assured.
Orakwue also expressed gratitude to the Chairman and the Board of the State Local Government Service Commission.
‘The Commission’s Chairman came up with an innovation this year with what is called ”Local Government Service Week” with a lot of programmes mapped out.
Reacting to claims by a group that they were still the authentic leaders of the Union, Orakwue described them as impostors and offshoots of Chikwelu Adigwe. He said that what was important was that there was an interlocutory injunction that barred Adigwe and his State Executive Council members from having anything to do with leadership and administration in NULGE.
‘Besides,’ Orakwue stated, ‘The judgement of the Industrial Court is there. NULGE and Chikwelu Adigwe are parties to the suit. When you cut off the root of a tree, the tree cannot grow again. Let them produce documents or superior judgement that gives them authority. They are just a bunch of confusionists.’
Orakwue said they were merely doing what they were doing because of their kleptomania attitude. ‘They fraudulently siphoned the Union money. They are illegally deducting the workers’ salary at will to share with their sponsors. Just check out the July salary; staff salaries were deducted for no just cause in these hard times! Honestly, we cannot allow this illegality to continue. Enough is Enough!’ Orakwue said.
With the new development, it is expected that the Anambra State Government will begin dealing fully with the Orakwue leadership who are backed by an unvacated judgement by the National Industrial Court in Awka Judicial Division which recognized his leadership.
Fides gathered that the matter had lingered because some officials of the State Government might have been either wrongly advised or working in cahoots with some elements to be giving check off dues to the wrong group.
The latest development which culminated in the dismissal of Adigwe is now seen as a litmus test for the Anambra State Government to do the needful.
When Fides contacted Adigwe for his reaction, he pleaded to be given time to recover from his ill health.
