Labour blames Uzodimma as police arrest Ajaero, foil Imo protest

Labour blames Uzodimma as police arrest Ajaero, foil Imo protest

Deborah Tolu-Kolawole, Adebayo Folorunsho-Francis, Anozie Egole and Chidiebube Okeoma
The Nigeria Labour Congress, on Wednesday, kicked as its President, Joe Ajaero, was arrested by the police in Owerri, the Imo State capital.

Ajaero was said to be in the state to mobilise NLC members for a total strike in Imo starting from Wednesday.

The PUNCH reports that Ajaero, during a press briefing on Sunday, had accused the Imo State government of “violating the rights of the Nigerian workers in the state,” and therefore vowed to mobilise members of the union in the state for a total strike.

The Head of Information of the NLC, Benson Upah, who confirmed the arrest to The PUNCH, noted that Ajaero was picked up at the state secretariat of the NLC and taken to an unknown location.

“The President of the Nigeria Labour Congress, Comrade Joe Ajaero, was picked up a few minutes ago from the NLC State Council Secretariat by heavily armed policemen in Owerri and taken to an unknown destination,” Upah wrote in a text message sent to The PUNCH.

The organised labour accused Imo State Governor, Hope Uzodimma, of conspiring with the state’s Commissioner of Police, Muhammed Barde, to “abduct” their President.

In a statement signed by the Joint Unions’ Secretaries, Emmanuel Ugboaja and Nuhu Toro, and made available to The PUNCH on Wednesday, the union frowned upon the detention of Ajaero, stressing the need for President Bola Tinubu’s intervention.

It said, “Just as Nigerian workers gathered earlier this morning, led by the leadership of the two labour centres, to demonstrate our outrage over the serial and habitual abuse and violation of the rights of workers in the state, the government unleashed blood-curdling mayhem on the workers.

“Earlier in the morning, policemen had tried to disperse workers who were gathering at the state NLC secretariat without success. This was followed in the usual manner by ‘thugs’ who were stationed very close to the secretariat in several Hilux and Toyota trucks.

“These ‘thugs’ were later to unleash mayhem on the few workers who had already gathered, smashing car windscreens, delivering matchet cuts on some, stabbing many, and inflicting all manners of injuries on the workers. GSM handsets were snatched, laptops taken away, and money was forcefully taken away by the hoodlums.

“As if that damage was not enough, the President of the NLC, Comrade Joe Ajaero, arrived at the venue accompanied by a few individual workers to inspect the carnage and to provide the necessary leadership for the trade union action to continue, only to be met by policemen of the Imo State Police Command who came in their numbers and in several trucks.”

The unions alleged that the police also came with thugs led by the Special Assistant to the Governor on Special Duties, Chinasa Nwaneri, who allegedly descended on Ajaero after overpowering the few workers who were left.

The NLC said, “They (police) eventually bundled the President into their waiting van and whisked him away to an unknown destination, where he is still being held incommunicado as we write.”

The United Action Front of Civil Society condemned the police action alleged arrest of the NLC President, warning of impending mass action if anything happens to him.

Reacting via a statement, the National Coordinator of the group, Olawale Okunniyi, who condemned Ajaero’s arrest, said the governor had shot himself in the foot.

He said, “In the same vein, Hope Uzodimma, the Supreme Court Governor of Imo State, today shot himself in the leg as anticipated by abducting the NLC President, Comrade Joe Ajaero, the leader of the entire workforce and masses of Nigeria. He will no longer know rest.

“It will, therefore, be in the interest of the governor that nothing happens to Ajaero in his illegal custody to avoid a total shutdown of Abuja and Nigeria as the Nigerian people are being pushed by bandits in power towards mass action.”

Also, the Maritime Workers Union of Nigeria condemned Ajaero’s arrest in a statement by its head of media, John Ikemefuna.

But the Imo State Police Command, in a statement by its spokesman,Okoye Henry, said Ajaero was not arrested but taken into protective custody by the police “to save him from a mob attack.”

In the statement posted on the official X handle of the Nigerian Police Force on Wednesday, the command said, “The Imo State Police Command wishes to clarify some sketchy reports alleging the arrest of the President of the Nigeria Labour Congress, Comrade Joe Ajaero, in Owerri.

“It is pertinent to state that the NLC President was in Owerri as part of arrangements of the congress to mobilise workers for a mega protest rally in the state. In the course of their planning, it was reported that suggestions arose for the lockdown of some essential facilities, particularly the airport, which led to some workers and other individuals resisting the picketing process leading to scuffles and heated arguments and an eventual attack on the person of the president by a mob.

“Upon receiving this report, the Imo Police Command swiftly deployed police operatives to the scene where the Officer-in-Charge exercised his operational discretion by taking the NLC President into protective custody at the state command headquarters to ensure the protection of his life and that he was not lynched in the scuffle that followed.

“The Commissioner of Police thereafter directed that he should be taken to the Police Medical Services, Owerri, where he would be accorded medical attention as a result of the attack. He has, therefore, been accorded adequate security cover to proceed on his other legitimate engagements for the day.”