Joe Ajaero’s tumultuous reign as President of Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) hit new heights last week following his controversial invitation by the police authorities.... CLICK TO READ THE FULL NEWS HERE▶▶
Nigerians woke up on Monday to learn about a police invitation to Ajaero to come and explain his role in alleged terrorism financing among other criminal allegations.
The police claimed that Ajaero was implicated in “criminal conspiracy, terrorism financing, treasonable felony, subversion, and cybercrime.”
In the light of that, Ajaero split the citizenry from top to down, leaving opinions sharply divided.
On one hand, there are individuals who are demanding Ajero’s response to the police and queries that might be lying for him. Those individuals strongly believe that if Ajaero is found wanting, he has to face the music. They rest their argument on the fact that the world all over, no government treats treason with kids’ gloves, urging that the Ajaero case ought to be followed to the letter. And where it is conclusively proved, he should be severely punished, and where possible, slammed into the gallows. Perhaps, they cannot wait to see that happen.
On the other hand are those who equally strongly believe that the police allegations are as spurious as they are gaseous – if not a pursuit of vendetta. They hold that the government of the day is merely looking for an avenue to rope in Ajaero and either intimidate or incarcerate him, thus silence the Labour he pilots.
Individuals who buy into this latter argument suggest that President Bola Tinubu and his party, the All Progressives Congress (APC) have increasingly shown more than enough penchant for not indulging the opposition. They claim that although the Organised Labour is not a political party per se, the government sees it as a body whose conduct and demeanour offend it and pose a major threat to its wishes.
Recall how over the past months, Labour was locked in a bitter, rancorous haggle for a new minimum wage after which the Federal Government reluctantly agreed to pay N70,000.
Some analysts believe that traditionally, no government will accede to Labour’s demand for wage increment if it is not forced to do so.
When the argument above is placed side by side with Labour’s vantage position to force the government to the negation table, and it long history of strikes in the country, one begins to understand how fragile the government-Labour relations can be.
When, therefore, the police recently conducted a midnight Gestapo raid on the offices of the NLC in Abuja, carting away vital documents, it wasn’t difficult for some people to draw a parallel line between right and wrong.
The raid was one that provoked outrage from members of the public. Worst still, days after, no security organisation admitted it did the act, although fingers pointed at the usual suspect – the Directorate of State Services (DSS). It took days before the police could own up, prompting the NLC and the public to demand an apology from both the police and the government.
When, therefore, the police came out with an invitation to Ajaero over the said terrorism financing, and criminal subversion, that left many puzzled.
The said police invitation was greeted with an outpouring of emotions which range from shock, surprise to the bizarre.
In a letter signed by ACP Adamu Muazu on behalf of the Deputy Commissioner of Police, Intelligence Response Team, the police threatened that if Ajaero failed to honour the invitation on August 20, he would be arrested.
Those baying for Ajaero’s blood insist that he must see the police, since for now, his is mere invitation to help police operatives in their investigations.
They remind Ajaero that he is not above the law after all.
The Labour boss is also being warned to separate his office as NLC president from his person, hence the need for him to understand that it is Ajaero that is being invited and not the NLC president.
But Ajaero, through his lawyers, has accepted to see the police on August 29 as against the date proposed by the police.
However, the Labour sees a sleight of hand in the Ajaero travail, believing it was all trumped up.
According to Labour, the police move is a fresh attempt to intimidate and harass the leadership of the workers.
In a statement, the NLC Head of Communications and Corporate Affairs, Benson Upah, tried to establish a link between the Ajaero invitation to the recent raid on NLC’s headquarters.
“Clearly, the last has not been heard about the raid on the headquarters of the Nigeria Labour Congress.
“The question on the lips of those in the know is: ‘who wants Joe Ajaero out of circulation?’” Upah queried.
Earlier, there were speculations that the Federal Government believes that NLC was a part of the #EndBadGovernance protest that rocked the country recently.
But the NLC has come out to deny its involvement, urging the government to rather dialogue with the organisers.
While condemning the Ajaero invitation, NLC believes there is more to it than the police are telling the nation. Then it went on to mobilise its affiliates for a nationwide strike in case Ajaero be held.
Some other bodies such as the Amnesty International (AI) have condemned the police terrorism-related allegation against Ajaero, describing it as an attempt by the Federal Government to silence the union’s right to question governmental policies that affect them.
AI expressed concerns over the looming threat to arrest Mr Ajaero, insisting that it represents a fresh attempt to intimidate and harass the leadership of the workers’ union.
As it stands, the citizenry are waiting with bated breath to see whether the police will arrest Ajaero before the August 29 date or wait until he visits their office.
Already, all eyes are on the ball to see how things will pan out on the said date.
Meanwhile, there have been strident calls on the Federal Government and the police to exercise caution in dealing with Labour and its leadership.
The callers draw a line between what goes on now and what obtained during the military era when the people had little say in what went on around them.
Although the same callers want Ajaero to be carefully investigated, they demand a revisit to the long lists of terrorism financiers handed to the Federal Government by UAE government.
They want the current administration to begin acting on that list to be taken seriously.
