NLC, police, Imo govt trade blames over brutalization of Ajaero in Owerri

Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), police and the Imo State Government have continued to trade allegations and blames following the brutalization of the President of the labour group, Mr Joe Ajaero, Wednesday, in Owerri by suspected political thugs.

While the NLC accused the Imo State Governor, Mr Hope Uzodiimma of being behind the assault on its president at the protest ground in Owerri, the police and the state government have denied culpability in the brutalisation of Comrade Ajaero who needed hospitalization after rhea ordeal.

The Organisd Labour alleged that the police ‘in the usual manner accompanied by thugs led by the Special Assistant to the Governor of Imo state on Special Duties, Mr. Chinasa Nwaneri leading others like Tapey and Madoka, descended on the NLC president after overpowering the few workers who were left after the initial battering, inflicted heavy injuries and big blows to his head and body and kicking him in the process while dragging him on the ground while the Police supervised the mayhem.’

The Imo Government is said to be owing its workers a total of 20 months of unpaid salaries and allowances, prompting the NLC to mobilise its members to storm Owerri, the state capital, to protest the condition.

However, the planned protest by the workers in Imo State turned sour as thugs invaded the rally ground beating up the protesters and further vandalized vehicles of protesters.

President of the NLC, Ajaero, an indigene of the state was also arrested and whisked away by operatives of the Nigeria police from the rally ground.

The NLC had called out workers to protest on Wednesday, November 1 over what it termed; ‘persistent and egregious violations of the rights and privileges of workers in Imo State by the State Government.’

“NLC was deeply concerned about the persistent and egregious violations of the rights and privileges of workers in Imo State by the State Government.

“Despite our repeated efforts to engage in constructive dialogue and reach amicable agreements, the Imo State Government has become a habitual and serial breaker of these agreements, continuing to trample on the rights of workers in the state.

“As a result, we are left with no choice but to embark on mass protests and industrial actions beginning on the 1st day of November, 2023.

“This is to demonstrate our outrage and stop the continuing violation of the rights and privileges of workers in the state,” the NLC President, Ajaero said ahead of the protest.

However, the rally had barely kicked off on Wednesday when miscreants, suspected to be political thugs, stormed the venue in Owerri, the state capital and proceeded to attack protesters.

The miscreants descended on protesters, smashing vehicles and inflicting body injuries on NLC members at the protest ground.

In the chaos, the operatives of the Imo State Police Command whisked away the NLC leader, even as his whereabouts is remains unknown as heavily armed security personnel took him away.

It is not clear the motive for the arrest of the labour leader, whether it was for his safety from attacks by the thugs or to end the protests against the state government.

Reacting to the incident, the NLC Head of Information and Publicity, Comrade Benson Upah, described what happened to Ajaero as an act of abduction that degenerated into attempted murder.

“Contact has been made with Congress President, Comrade Joe Ajaero this evening around 15:30 hours at the Police Hospital in Owerri from where he was taken to Federal Medical Centre, Owerri where he is receiving medical attention.

“Thoroughly brutalized, his right eye at the time of contact was completely shut.

“Comrade Ajaero narrated that immediately after his arrest, he was beaten up and blindfolded and taken to an unknown destination where more brutalisation took place, sometimes with bottles.

“His phones, money and other personal effects were taken off him and have not been returned to him,” disclosed comrade Upah.

However, responding to allegations of complicity by the NLC, the Io Police Command, Wednesday, denied involvement in the ordeal of the labour leader, citing the existence of a court injunction from the National Industrial Court of Nigeria holden in Owerri with Suit No. NICN/OW/41/2023 dated 27th October, 2023, barring the NLC from holding the intended protest rally in Owerri.

A statement by the Command’s spokesperson, ASP Okoye Henry, accused the NLC of illegally convening a protest rally in the state.

“The Imo State Police Command wishes to clarify 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.

“It is however necessary to emphasise the existence of a court injunction from the National Industrial Court of Nigeria holden in Owerri with Suit No. NICN/OW/41/2023 dated 27th October, 2023, barring the NLC from holding the intended protest rally in Owerri.

“The Commissioner of Police, Imo State Police Command, CP Mohammed Ahmed Barde, psc (+), therefore urges all concerned parties to ensure compliance with the Court directives to avoid jeopardising the current security arrangements in Owerri and other parts of Imo State, even as the State gears up for the forthcoming electioneering process on 11th November 2023,” the police said in a statement, Wednesday.

On its part, the state government, in a statement issued on Wednesday by the Commissioner for Information and Strategy, Hon Declan Emelumba, denied any involvement in the arrest of the NLC President, as he accused ‘perennial mischief makers always crying wolf where there is none’ of being behind the allegations.

According to Io Government spokesperson, the planned strike in the state had been stopped by the National Industrial Court in Owerri and ‘that makes the planned action illegal,’ adding that ‘the state government has no hand in the arrest since it believes in the rule of law.’

He also noted that it complied with the Court order that the Imo State chapter of NLC announced that it was pulling out of the strike, just as he wondered what Ajaero was doing in Owerri in defiance of the order of the court, which warned of severe consequences against disobedience.

He said ‘information at the disposal of the government indicated that there might have been a fiasco between lawful workers of Imo State and lawless invaders from Abuja, which led to police intervention to maintain the peace.’

It would be recalled that earlier Wednesday, the NLC Secretary, Emmanuel Ugboaja, and his Trade Union Congress (TUC) counterpart, Nuhu Toro TUC secretary, had in a joint statement accused the Imo Governor, Uzodimma, of conspiring with the state’s Commissioner of Police, Muhammed Barde, to arrest Joe Ajaero, just as the Organised Labour threatened to direct a nationwide strike if the detained Ajaero is not released immediately.

“The Government of Imo state has continued to use the instrument of violence and intimidation against trade unions and their leadership in the state. 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-cuddling 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 Monies were 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 Police in the usual manner accompanied by thugs led by the Special Assistant to the Governor of Imo state on Special Duties: Mr. Chinasa Nwaneri leading others like Tapey and Madoka descended on the president of the Congress after overpowering the few workers who were left after the initial battering, inflicted heavy injuries and big blows to his head and body and kicking him in the process while dragging him on the ground while the Police supervised the mayhem.

“They 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. This latest action of the State Government and the Police further demonstrates our earlier cries to Nigerians on the level of violence and impunity going on in Imo State. If the President of the Congress can be abducted in broad daylight and taken to an unknown destination by the Police and the State Governor, imagine, what they have been doing to workers and trade union leaders in the state!

“This is mind-boggling and unacceptable in sane societies. The use of violence against innocent citizens especially against trade union leaders by the State has unfortunately become the norm. It is a new normal that may cost our nation dearly if people are allowed to get away with such violence and bloodletting.

“All we have been asking the governor is to honour agreements signed between us and to respect the rights of workers in the state. Workers deserve their wages and if you are in the habit of owing workers, you make their lives unstable and strip them of their humanity. These are some of the things we have asked Hope to do but to which he has refused to heed instead, he believes in the use of intimidation and violence against the workers and the people.

“We call on Nigerian workers, wherever they may be; in the respective industrial Unions; the state councils, and the Branches to be on alert for an immediate nationwide action if, by the end of today, the President of the Congress is not released. We cannot be at work while our President is in the gulag and we cannot be at peace when the Government of Imo state continues to disrespect workers and treat them with utter disdain.

“With this statement, we want to put the Nigerian Government on notice that we want the President of the Nigerian Labour Congress (NLC) immediately released. The injuries meted to him must be treated forthwith and his freedom to lead Nigerian workers in a peaceful protest guaranteed. This is what we demand as we proceed to the meetings of the various Organs to make decisions on further steps that will be taken. If this is not heeded now, anything that happens in the Country, the Governor of Imo State, and the Police Commissioner must be held responsible.

“Nigeria is a Country of Laws and we especially the leaders must learn to work within its ambits. The IGP who is in the State must call his operatives to avoid loss of lives, properties and further injuries to innocent workers in Imo State. Workers in Imo State must be free and we must all join hands to ensure that this happens.

“Hope Uzodimma must be called to order by the President and Commander in chief of the Armed forces to avert what he has chosen to turn the state into – a den of thugs and bloodsuckers. We will press on with our engagement as trade unions until the Government listens to the demands of the workers.

“The governor should not be deluded into thinking that today’s violence will stop our resolve and determination to save the workers of Imo state. It has encouraged us to organize more so that we will engage him more creatively and effectively. Once again, we call on the Police to immediately release the President of Congress without further delay,” the joint NLC, TUC statement read.

Meanwhile, reacting on the development, human rights lawyer, Mr Inibehe Effiong, Wednesday, condemned the ‘brutish and degrading treatment’ meted out to Ajaero, adding noting that ‘issue is not about Joe Ajaero but the effect of this gruesome attack on the NLC as a union.’

“The leader of the largest labour union in a country was subjected to this brutish and degrading treatment and we are not seeing the kind of reaction that should naturally follow.

“The issue is not about Joe Ajaero but the effect of this gruesome attack on the NLC as a union.

“Despite its weakness and compromising posture of the NLC in recent years, we should not allow this humiliation to go unchallenged.

“This will have a devastating consequence on the civic space in the country,” said Mr Effiong.

Also reacting, human rights lawyer and activist, Mr. Femi Falana SAN faulted the police statement, saying the Imo Command’s version of the event was full of loopholes

“The police version of the brutalisation of the NLC President, Comrade Joe Ajaero is full of loopholes. “As soon as Comrade Ajaero showed up at the venue of the rally, he was surrounded by a team of police personnel led by the Commissioner of Police of Imo State.

“Why did the police allow Comrade Ajaero to be brutalised by the so-called miscreants? In other words, why did the police not protect him from the violent attack?

“By the way, why did the police officers not arrest the miscreants who brutalised the NLC President in their presence?

“So the police who witnessed the attack without making any arrest suddenly turned round to take the victim to the police clinic. The members of the public who decried the barbaric attack took pictures which exposed the misleading version of the police.

“It is disturbing that the police justified the action of the so-called miscreants by saying that Comrade Ajaero has disobeyed the order of a court. Why did the police not allow the court to purge Comrade Ajaero of contempt of court?

“We call on the Inspector-General of Police, Dr Kayode Egbetokun, to investigate and ensure that the police officers who brutalised the NLC President are prosecuted without any delay,” Falana said.

Another Nigerian, reacting by condemning some persons who have continued to support Governor Uzodimma.

“Wait, Hope Uzodinma is owing 20 MONTHS of salaries and pensions in Imo State and some of you are here campaigning for him!!!!

“Now he has arrested the NLC President in Owerri for protesting!!!

“Nah, I keep saying it, we are not serious yet!!!” the anonymous post on X read.

The comment is in reference to the backlash received by actors Kate Henshaw and Okey Bakassi for throwing their support for Uzodimma by agreeing to co-host a fundraiser organised for the embattled governor by his supporters in Owerri, earlier.

While Okey Bakassi is an indigene of Imo State, Kensahw is from Cross River State. Both are also members of the Obidients Movement, a group of activists and followers of Mr Peter Obi, the presidential candidate of the Labour Party (LP) in the February 25 election, and had come under heavy attacks on Twitter (former X) for their roles in promoting Uzodimma, a governorship candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in the state’s November 1 1 election during the latter’s fund raiser event in Owerri.