THE Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) rose from its emergency National Executive Council (NEC) meeting in Kaduna at the weekend and explained why it has not embarked on a massive protest rally or embarked on a nationwide strike on the state of the nation, especially on the struggle against deregulation and recent constitutional crisis surrounding President Umaru Yar’Adua’s long absence in office.

The NLC, which also declared that some vested interests were inciting it to resort to “massive civil disobedience,” said it has refrained from massive rally and nationwide strike because of the fear of military intervention.

While declaring that the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has failed Nigeria as a political party, the NLC also blamed the ruling party for the crisis for its failure to get the Vice President, Goodluck Jonathan to step in as the acting president on time, despite being a member of the party.

Addressing journalists after the emergency meeting, the President of the congress, Comrade Abdulwaheed Omar said the NLC had set up a seven-member committee to join the larger Federal Government  and Labour Committee on Deregulation, even as he emphasised that the congress is still strongly opposed to deregulation.

He pointed out that the NLC leadership had opted for constitutional resolution of the crisis rather than protest rally and strike, while regrettably “some vested interests wanted them to resort to “massive civil disobedience.”

Comrade Omar, who addressed the journalists, the NEC members and the Kaduna State Governor, Namadi Sambo on the position of the congress and the strategy being adopted so far, said the country is already tensed, a situation which had compelled the Chief of Army Staff to caution the military not to contemplate military intervention.

Comrade Omar said: “While some vested interests wanted Congress to go beyond soliciting for a constitutional resolution of the crisis by calling out workers to a massive protest rally or embark on a nationwide strike, the leadership of Congress was very conscious of the dangers such massive civil disobedience would have on the country’s democracy in an already tensed scenario which compelled the Chief of Army Staff to at a point caution officers and men of the Nigerian Army not to contemplate the prospects of intervening to seize power.