Protest turns violent in Imo as thugs brutalise, NLC  President, Ajaero

AKOR SYLVESTER, Abuja and VICTOR DURUAMAKU, Owerri

The President of the Nigeria Labour Congress, NLC, Joe Ajaero was brutalized by thugs allegedly led by the Special Assistant to the Governor of Imo state on Special Duties: Mr. Chinasa Nwaneri during a protest against alleged abuse of workers’ rights by Hope Uzodimma administration and the failure to honour agreements signed with workers.

Trouble started when some workers who had gathered for the protest at the state NLC secretariat in Owerri, the state capital were overpowered by rampaging hoodlums who were opposed to the protest.

According to a statement signed by the General Secretary of the NLC, Emma Ugbuaja and General Secretary of Trade Union Congress, Nuhu Toro, Ajaero who was arrested and detained by the Police after the severe beating, later regained freedom on Wednesday.

The Congress said a contact made to Ajaero on his treatment bed at the Federal Medical Centre, Owerri yesterday evening revealed that he was first taken to Police Hospital in Owerri from where he was moved to Federal Medical Centre, Owerri where he is currently receiving medical attention from the beating received from thugs allegedly loyal to the state government.

“Thoroughly brutalized, the comrade president’s right eye at the time of contact was completely shut”, they added.
Ajaero, who said little disclosed that immediately after his arrest, he was beaten up and blind-folded and taken to an unknown destination where more brutalisation took place, sometimes with bottles.
According to him, his phones, money and other personal effects were taken off him and have not been returned to him.

Earlier, Ugbuaja and Toro in a joint statement said “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 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 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 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 take 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 order to avoid loss of lives, properties and further injuries on 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 rather encouraged us to organize more so that we will engage him more creatively and effectively”.

The congress further called on the Police to immediately release the President of Congress without further delay.

We didn’t arrest Ajaero –Imo Police

Meanwhile, the Imo State Police Command has denied arresting Comrade Ajaero but took him into protective custody.
In a statement issued in Owerri by the command’s spokesman, ASP Henry Okoye, the command said, “We never arrested NLC President” .

It read: “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 mobilize 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.”

It further said, “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”.

The command added that “he was not lynched in the scuffle that followed”, adding that 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 ”
The police said, “he has therefore been accorded adequate security cover to proceed on his other legitimate engagements for the day.”

Also, the police explained that it is however necessary to emphasize the existence of a court injunction from the National Industrial Court of Nigeria held in Owerri with Suit No. NICN/OW/41/2023 dated 27th October 2023, barring the NLC from holding the intended protest rally in Owerri.

According to the statement, the Commissioner of Police, Imo State Police Command, Mohammed Ahmed Barde, therefore urges all concerned parties to ensure compliance with the court directives so as to avoid jeopardizing the current security arrangements in Owerri and other parts of Imo State, even as the State gears up for the forthcoming governorship election on11th November 2023.