Nationwide Strike: P¥nishing a whole country over a personal matter is an ab¥se of power — Presidency tells NLC and TUC

The Presidency has cond£mned the ongoing nationwide strike by members of the Nigerian Labour Congress (NLC) and the Trade Union Congress (TUC).

The labour unions last week went on strike over the a$$ault on the NLC President, Joe Ajaero, during a protest in Imo State.

Bayo Onanuga, the Special Adviser to the President on Information and Strategy, in a statement said: “Calling out workers on a national strike over a personal issue of a labour leader despite a clear court order against any industrial action amounts to an ab¥se of privilege.

Power at any level should never be used to settle personal scores. Rather, it should be used to promote collective progress and advance national interest.

This flagrant disobedience to court order and lack of respect for the judiciary should not be what the organised Labour would champion.

The labour movement has always been a champion of rule of law and respect for the judiciary. It is a sad irony that the current labour leaders have shown disdain and utter disregard for court order.

What the strike notice issued Monday night after official hours suggests is it’s designed for a sinister and hidden agenda to cause undue hardship and cause civil disturbance in our country.

This decision by the NLC and TUC other than being an ego tripping move is clearly unwarranted. It is an attempt to bl@ckmail the government by the leadership of the NLC.

We are still at a loss as to why the NLC and TUC decided to p¥nish a whole country of over 200million people over a personal matter involving the NLC President, Mr. Joe Ajaero, whose error of judgment led to an a§§ault on him in Owerri while he was planning to incite the workers in Imo State into a needless strike.”

It would be recalled that the Federal Government had on Friday secured a restraining order against the organised labour from embarking on industrial action on November 14.

Justice Benedict Bakwaph Kanyip, President of the court, issued the restraining order following an ex-parte application before the court by Federal Government.