APC, NLC clash over NULGE strike in Osun

By Deborah Oladejo, Osogbo –

The Osun State chapter of the All Progressives Congress (APC) and the state council of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) have traded accusations over the ongoing strike by the National Union of Local Government Employees (NULGE), which has lasted for seven months.

In a statement signed by its Director of Media and Information, Mogaji Kola Olabisi, the APC accused the state NLC chairman, Comrade Christopher Arapasopo, of supporting the strike in solidarity with Governor Ademola Adeleke’s administration. The party described the action as a “sympathy strike” causing hardship at the grassroots.

Olabisi further alleged that Arapasopo was personally benefitting from the prolonged industrial action, claiming he had turned the situation into an opportunity for self-enrichment, including moving around the state with armed escorts and staying in hotels under the guise of security.

The APC urged NULGE members to disregard what it called a government-backed push to sustain the strike, accusing the NLC chairman of profiting from the unrest and deliberately working against efforts to end it.

Reacting, Arapasopo dismissed the APC’s claims as baseless, describing the party as “a den of louts, charlatans, fibsters, and degenerates.” He accused the APC of attempting to rewrite history regarding its alleged role in the current crisis within the local government system.

He explained that NULGE members were asked to remain at home due to previous attacks allegedly carried out by APC members on local government secretariats, which reportedly resulted in loss of lives and destruction of property.

Defending his role, Arapasopo said he had consistently championed human rights and peacebuilding, rejecting insinuations that he was a paid agent of the state government. He maintained that his approach had been one of dialogue rather than confrontation.

“Because I choose discussion over hooliganism, I am being vilified by sycophantic bullies who believe that if they can’t have it, no one else should,” he stated.