There is anxiety amongst members of the Trade Union Congress (TUC) in kwara state following it’s botched 5th triennial delegates conference earlier scheduled for June 30, 2020.
Before the botched conference, delegates and national officers from Lagos had arrived Ilorin, the state capital and already checked into their various hotels when on June 29, a new directive came from the state technical committee on COVID-19 asking the union to put it on hold. In a letter signed tiitled “Enforcement of COVID -19 Protocols ” by Mr J.O Asha on behalf of the state deputy governor and chairman, technical committee on COVID-19, Mr Kayode Alabi, the committee cited “rising cases of COVID -19 and risk associated with public gatherings” as reasons for its suspension asking the planning committee to pick a new date.
Although, the congress said it had expended hugely in preparation for the largest gathering of the union where delegates were expected to elect new officers that would run the affairs of the union for another term, it had no option than to comply.
Consequently, a new date of September 26, 2020 was proposed to the technical committee by the state caretaker committee for the conference to hold.
And just like it happened the first time, the technical committee on COVID-19 also rejected the proposed date insisting that there was the need to avoid public gathering that could cause a spike in covid-19 cases in the state.
According to the TUC caretaker chairman , Ezekiel Alex Adegoke, the COVID -19 technical committee then suggested November, 2020 when it predicted that the curve of coronavorious infection would have been flattened.
Adegoke said while the TUC had picked November 7 and printed another programme, it received another letter from Covid -19 technical committee asking the TUC to hold it conference on October 7 and later picked October 21, 2020.
But the two dates were also rejected by the TUC who also argued that they both fell on week days during which some workers like Bankers union and PENGASEN would be disenfranchised.
Instead, the TUC said it would stick to November which was earlier suggested by the technical committee.
Following which it picked November 7 to hold the long awaited conference which would also be the first of its kind to be hosted in kwara.
There has not been any further official reaction to the new date, the TUC caretaker committee chairman however, alledged that some forces were stocked on paving way for a candidate without allowing election to hold.
