Ajaero: You Cannot Bend Us – NLC Tells President Tinubu

Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) has told President Bola Tinubu that the labour union cannot be bent to do the wish of the government.

NLC Secretary General, Comrade Emmanuel Ugboaja, said this on Thursday, at the Labour House, in Abuja, while addressing members who gathered in solidarity with NLC president, Joe Ajaero, who is in police headquarters on an alleged case of terrorism.

Ugboaja said Labour leaders had never gone into exile or organized a hijacked protest. He stated that the current leadership of NLC would not be cowed by the government.

He regretted that the government sees Ajaero as a hard nut while citizens feel the NLC President has sold them out to the government and is weak.

NLC General Secretary noted that no amount of charges or cases against NLC leader would make organized labour bow.

Ugboaja said, “We have never had a rally where a shop was broken into. Has any shop ever been broken into across the Federation? And since 1978 till date, we have had more than a hundred rallies. No common incident of a shop being broken into. So comrades, we are not mad people. We are workers. And we cannot begin now to reason upside down.

“Has any labour leader since 1978 gone on exile? No. Has any labour leader ever gone on exile? No. So let them be told, we will not run. Nobody, we be fighting labour out of Nigeria. 50 million cases, 500 charges, we will take it standing. We will not bow before anybody. We will not. So let it be known. Because we have done our work diligently. Where we need to say no, we have said no. Where we need to say yes, we have said yes. Where we need to balance, we have balanced. You cannot bend us. We will adjust appropriately.

“Therefore, while they felt that we were tough, ordinary people felt we were weak. Everybody viewed us like the elephant body, depending on what part he is touching. Government sees Ajaero as a hard nut, ordinary people feel Ajaero is weak. Where do we stand? So the best you can do is be a trade union leader, and that is what we are. So let’s not be misconstrued.”