The Bola Tinubu administration on Tuesday, September 10, said it was wrongly and falsely accused of rights abuse over the arrest of Joe Ajaero, president of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC).....KINDLY READ THE FULL STORY HERE▶
Legit recalls that the United Kingdom (UK) arm of the Trade Union Congress had criticised President Tinubu for allegedly orchestrating the arrest of Ajaero, who described the latest fuel hike under his administration as “traumatic and nightmarish.”
The nation’s secret police, DSS, on Monday, September 9, arrested Ajaero at the international wing of the Nnamdi Azikiwe Airport in Abuja where he intended to board a flight to the UK to attend the TUC 2024 Congress.
Ajaero was later released following calls and mounting pressure from several human rights and civil rights groups.
The UK TUC described Ajaero’s arrest as “unlawful” and urged Tinubu to stop persecuting him.
But reacting through a statement issued by Bayo Onanuga, the special adviser on information and strategy to President Timubu, the government said the TUC UK opened its conference on Tuesday, September 10, in London, with its leader “making false claims about human rights abuses and violations in Nigeria”.
Onanuga said:
“The Nigerian government was wrongly and falsely accused of rights abuse because the NLC President, Joe Ajaero, was stopped from travelling abroad after he snubbed the invitation of a law enforcement agency conducting an ongoing investigation.
“Ajaero, who probably considers himself above the law, was slated to speak at the same conference where the UK TUC leader attacked Nigeria. His actions, however, have serious consequences, as no one is above the law in Nigeria.”
Furthermore, the statement stated that there is no adversarial relationship between the labour movement in Nigeria and the government.
The statement added:
“While labour unions and the government may not always agree on policy direction, the government has consistently shown readiness to engage on any issue with labour despite the latter’s political partisanship.
“Contrary to the erroneous impression being created, the invitation extended by the Department of State Services to Mr. Ajaero has nothing to do with his role as the President of NLC.”
Atiku speaks on NLC president’s arrest
Earlier, Legit reported that Atiku Abubakar, the presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the 2019 and 2023 elections, strongly condemned Ajaero’s arrest.
Atiku also denounced the DSS’ siege on the Abuja office of the Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP).