By Isaac Kertyo, Makurdi
The Nigeria Union of Journalists, NUJ, has condemned the attack on the President of the Nigeria Labour Congress, NLC, Comrade Joe Ajero, by alleged sponsored thugs and the Nigeria Police.
In a statement by its National Secretary, Shu’aibu Leman, which was made available to Journalists, the union expressed dismay over the manner the Labour Leader was battered and subsequently whisked away.
According to the statement, the NLC President along side other members of the Central Working Committee, CWC, were at the state Secretariat in Owerri, the Imo State capital to begin the planned strike action against the state government’s insensitivity to the plight of workers in the state.
” We are appalled at the treatment meted out to the President of the Nigeria Labour Congress, Comrade Joe Ajero by sponsored thugs and the Nigeria Police. We are equally full of consternation by the Gestapo manner in which Comrade Ajero was battered.
“Obviously, the Nigeria Police and other state Actors have learned nothing out of our nascent democracy, which presupposes that conduct of such Agents of state should be civil and that citizens have a right to peaceful assembly and protest.”
The union contended that over the years, ordinary Nigerians have always found succour in the struggles of the NLC for a better state for workers and other poor citizens in Nigeria, which it says is skewered in favour of the elite.
The NUJ, stated that Imo State Government should be held responsible for any untoward thing that happened to Comrade Ajero or any official of the NLC as a result of this development. “We condemn this dangerous development in its entirety and call for proper investigation and punishment for the perpetrators.”
