The attack in Imo State, according to Bayo Onanuga, Special Advisor to the President on Information and Strategy, was caused by a mistake in judgement made by Joe Ajaero, the President of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC).
He questioned why, in spite of a restraining order issued last week by Justice Benedict Backwash Kanyip of the National Industrial Court, the incident in Owerri resulted in a statewide strike, claiming that it was a personal problem between Ajaero and the state government.
Onanuga claims that the two labour centres’ actions were motivated by ego trips and were obviously unjustified. He also claims that the move was intended to blackmail the government.
As for the NLC President, Mr. Joe Ajaero, whose mistake of judgement led to the assault on him in Owerri while he was planning to incite the workers in Imo State into an unnecessary strike, Onanuga said, “We are still at a loss as to why the NLC and TUC decided to punish a whole country of over 200 million people over a personal matter.”
The Inspector General of Police has requested an investigation into Ajaero’s case, he said, even though the Federal Government does not support any kind of violence or assault on any Nigerian citizen, regardless of their social or economic standing.
Under whose supervision the incident occurred, Imo State’s Commissioner of Police has been transferred out of the state. Abuse of privilege is committed when workers are called out on a nationwide strike over a labour leader’s personal matter, even when there is a court injunction explicitly prohibiting industrial action.
It is never appropriate to settle personal scores using authority of any kind. As opposed to that, he said, it ought to be applied to further national interest and communal advancement.
The presidential adviser added that union leaders’ personal interests shouldn’t have to come before the country’s social programmes and economy.
“This egregious disregard for court orders and disrespect for the judiciary is not what organised labour ought to support.
“The labour movement has always supported the judiciary and the rule of law. The fact that today’s union leaders have disregarded court orders with contempt is a tragic irony.
We stress once more how illegal, immoral, unreasonable, and careless this strike action is. The strike announcement, which was made after official business hours on Monday, “suggests it was planned for a dark and covert agenda to cause undue hardship and cause civil disturbance in our country,” Onanuga continued.
