The Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) has voiced strong concerns over the state of Nigeria’s democracy, lamenting that the country’s electoral process has been hijacked by a privileged few who have essentially turned votes into commodities for trade.
The President of the NLC, Joe Ajaero, made the remarks during the public presentation of the Report on Electoral Trust and a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) signing ceremony organized by the International Press Centre (IPC). He stated that the political class had betrayed the people’s sovereign will.
Ajaero stressed that the electoral process—which ought to be the sacred arena for expressing the people’s mandate—has been transformed into a marketplace where votes are auctioned and democracy is subverted by the powerful.
He argued that the consequences of this subversion are deeply reflected in the quality of governance across the nation, resulting in immense suffering for the populace.
The huge suffering and the deliberate affliction of the people by those in public offices as if they are scourging Nigerians for not voting for them but they managed to find themselves into office,” Ajaero noted.
He highlighted the resulting crises: nearly 150 million multi-dimensionally poor people, dilapidated infrastructure, impassable roads, abandoned public schools, decayed hospitals, and calcified public utilities, coupled with unrestrained insecurity.
The NLC leader issued a strong challenge to the Nigerian media, calling on them to rise up and act as a voice for the voiceless, rather than a megaphone for the powerful.
He insisted that journalists must:Publish the unvarnished truth about the entire election cycle, Expose the pre-election rigging, the vote-buying, the intimidation, and the post-election judicial manipulations, Resist being “swamped by the tidal wave of propaganda and manipulation orchestrated by the political elite.”
Ajaero commended the initiative by the IPC, describing its collaboration with the Nigeria Association of Women Journalists (NAWOJ) and the Guild of Corporate Online Publishers (GOCOP) as “a vital act of resistance.”
He sees these organizations as crucial in tearing down the veils of deceit to ensure the public is not just informed, but empowered, and that politicians are held to account.
Reminding journalists of his own background as a former journalist, the NLC President urged them to uphold integrity and courage to rebuild public trust.
We challenge the media to stand on the side of the people. Be the mirror that reflects our reality, not the curtain that hides it. Be the compass that guides us to genuine democracy, not the tool used to legitimise its counterfeit,” he declared
The NLC sees the upcoming 2027 elections as a testing ground for the resilience of journalists
While he admitted the prognosis for the next cycle “looks very bleak,” he believes the media has the potential to become a catalytic agent for change to rebuild the trust of the people.
“We see this as a fight for the future of Nigeria, and the NLC stands ready to partner with all genuine forces to reclaim our democracy for the working people and the masses of our nation,” the statement concluded.
