The unions said that the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) and the Trade Union Congress (TUC) have convened an extraordinary National Executive Council meeting.
In an interview with our correspondent on Tuesday afternoon, Tommy Etim, the National Vice-President of the TUC, affirmed this.
He said the purpose of the meeting was to go over the terms of the strike that was scheduled in response to the brutalization of the National President of the NLC, Joe Ajaero, and to go over the Memorandum of Understanding that was signed on October 2, 2023, by the Federal Government and Organised Labour, following the removal of the Premium Motor Spirit subsidy, which the Labour centres claimed had caused “untold hardship” to Nigerians.
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“We are about to have an extraordinary meeting of the NEC,” he declared. The planned strike, the injustice done to Comrade Ajaero, and the Memorandum of Understanding inked with the federal government are the modalities. We’ll make more information public following the meeting.
Remember that on Friday, organised labor—which includes the Trade Union Congress and the Nigeria Labour Congress—issued a five-day ultimatum in response to the police’s Wednesday detention of Joe Ajaero, the National President of the NLC, in Owerri, Imo State.
The labour centres demanded the arrest and prosecution of the government assistant who was suspected of carrying out the attack, as well as the redeployment of the state’s commissioner of police.
In addition, the unions threatened to launch a nationwide strike if their demands were not fulfilled by Friday, the fifth day of the strike.
Police detained Ajaero on Wednesday before the state-wide demonstration in Imo. Benson Upah, the NLC’s Head of Information, made this revelation.
The governor of Imo State, Hope Uzodimma, accused the labour leader of interfering in state politics, even though the police denied detaining Ajaero and claimed he was just placed in protective custody to avert a mob attack.
Numerous well-known Nigerians and civil society organisations, including human rights attorney Mr. Femi Falana (SAN) and Labour Party presidential candidate Peter Obi for 2023, have denounced the attack on the labour leader.
