Passengers stranded as NLC, TUC members block Abuja airport road

AKOR SYLVESTER-Abuja

Many passengers at the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport in Abuja were stranded on Thursday following a protest by the members of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) and the Trade Union Congress (TUC).
The protest is coming after the recent brutalisation of the NLC President, Joe Ajaero by hoodlums in Imo State.
The two central labour unions on Wednesday declared an immediate industrial action in Imo State and fixed November 14 to begin a nationwide strike.
Members of the NLC and TUC on Thursday, blocked the entrance of the Abuja airport as many vehicle conveying air travellers to the airport were trapped outside, leaving the passengers stranded.
One of the passengers, Siraj Abubakar, told newsmen that the members of the labour unions stopped vehicles from gaining entrance into the airport at about 8:30 a.m.
“They stopped us from entering the airport at about 8:30 a.m. They said they are protesting against the maltreatment of the NLC President in Imo State and I wonder how that affects us here in Abuja,” Abubakar said.
Meanwhile, the airport authority has yet to react to the blockade as of the time of filing this report.
Similarly, the TUC has called on President Bola Tinubu to order the arrest of the perpetrators of the assault on the President of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) in Imo State recently.
It said the brutalisation of the Ajaero was supervised by the police officers who are answerable to the president of the country.
The President of TUC, Festus Osifo who stated this during a protest at the airport road in Abuja yesterday, said “An injury to one is an injury to all. Somebody asked me why we are at the Abuja airport, is it a national issue, that the issue is in Imo state and we said no, the person that was brutalized is a national figure. Our president is a national figure and the Police that brutalized him is a national institution, they are not Imo State Police.
“The Police that brutalized him reports to the Inspector General of Police, who in turn reports to the President of Nigeria. So since this is a national issue we must make it one. Governor Hope Uzodimma cannot unleash thugs with the Nigeria Police in Imo state on someone who have been peacefully fighting for the interest of the Nigerian workers.
“For us we say no, no. What is happening is just the first stage of the series of activities that will happen, except the Nigerian government do the needful and arrest those people who perpetrated the evil act on the NLC president and Nigerian workers.
“This is not acceptable and this must not be allowed by the Nigerian workers. Comrades let us be strong and this is a marathon. It is not a dash race, we are just starting until the government do the needful, the Area Commander that perpetuated this, that led those armed men that called themselves members of the Imo state Police are called to order. They must be prosecuted and they must be brought to book. It is not just to transfer the Commissioner of Police in Imo state, there are series of actions that must be taken by the Nigerian government because an injury to one is an injuring all”.
Osifo added that “injustice is the same everywhere whether it happened in Imo state or in any state in Nigeria, once you do this to any Nigerian workers we have the right to fight for the right of the particular person across the nation.
“The uprising that happened sometime in the Middle East was actually caused by one individual who was brutalized in Tunisia and it caused an uprising in the entire Middle East.
“The Nigerian president must act, the IGP must act and the time to act is now”.

You’re wrong to target aviation — FG

In a related development, the Federal Government has condemned the NLC and the TUC protest which grounded activities at the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport in Abuja on Thursday.
The Labour bodies had on Thursday morning blocked the entry and exit points of the airport, owing to its disagreement with the Imo State government after the President of the NLC, Joe Ajaero, was brutalized in Owerri, the state capital, last week.
The protest disrupted activities at the airport, forcing travellers to make their way to the airport on foot.
Speaking at an aviation retreat in Warri, Delta State, on Thursday, Minister of Aviation and Aerospace Development, Mr Festus Keyamo, faulted the move by NLC and TUC, questioning why the unions should target the aviation sector.
He said: “Aviation was not involved at all. Nothing about aviation but their target is aviation; their retaliation is aviation. So, please I want to beg them: ‘Leave us alone’. Leave aviation alone. You cannot target aviation in trying to address your grievances.
“You cannot target a nation in trying to address your grievances. In targeting aviation like the Chairman of the Senate Committee on Aviation, it is a global village, it affects foreigners coming into Nigeria and It affects ordinary Nigerians going about their normal businesses.
“As of yesterday, we were battling with the fact that they said for only flights for Imo that they would disrupt. But this morning, they blocked the access roads to the Abuja airport. They are disrupting the entire country.”
The minister called on the protesting unionists to sheathe their swords in the interest of the nation.