NOSA EGHAGHA
ABUJA, Nigeria – The organised labour under the auspices of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) and Trade Union Congress (TUC), yesterday grounded economic activities at the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja.
This was parts of the labour union’s reactions following the abduction and brutalisation of the NLC President, Joe Ajaero, during a protest in Owerri, Imo state capital.
Addressing the workers, the President of TUC, Festus Osifo, said the blockage of kilometre seven of the airport road is the first of the series of events that will unveil if the Federal government fails to intervene in the crisis.
He said that all the perpetrators must be brought to book and ensure that justice is served.
“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 Uzodinma can not unleash thugs with the Nigerian Police in Imo state on someone who has 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 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 said that injustice is the same every where, whether it happened in Imo state or in any state in Nigeria, once you do this to any Nigerian workers we have the right fight for the right of the particular person across the nation.
Osifo said that 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.”
