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Akinwande Soji-Ojo
The Imo State Police Command has clarified that the National President of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), Com Joe Ajaero, was not arrested, but taken into protective custody at the command headquarters to ensure the protection of his life.
The command’s spokesperson, ASP Okoye Henry, in a statement on Wednesday, said that there were scuffles and heated arguments during suggestions of facilities to picket, which eventually led to an attack on the NLC president by a mob.
“The Imo State Police Command wishes to clarify some sketchy reports alleging the arrest of the President of the Nigeria Labour Congress, Comrade Joe Ajaero, in Owerri. It is pertinent to state that the NLC President was in Owerri as part of arrangements of the Congress to mobilize workers for a mega protest rally in the state. In the course of their planning, it was reported that suggestions arose for the lockdown of some essential facilities particularly the airport which led to some workers and other individuals resisting the picketing process leading to scuffles and heated arguments and an eventual attack on the person of the president by a mob.
“Upon receiving this report, the Imo Police Command swiftly deployed police operatives to the scene where the Officer in Charge exercised his operational discretion by taking the NLC President into protective custody at the State Command Headquarters to ensure the protection of his life and that he was not lynched in the scuffle that followed. The Commissioner of Police thereafter directed that he should be taken to the Police Medical Services, Owerri, where he would be accorded medical attention as a result of the attack. He has therefore been accorded adequate security cover to proceed on his other legitimate engagements for the day, ” he said.
Okoye emphasised that there was a court injunction from the Owerri division of the National Industrial Court of Nigeria (NICN), with Suit No. NICN/OW/41/2023 and dated October 27, 2023, barring the NLC from holding the intended protest rally in the state.
“The Commissioner of Police, Imo State Police Command, CP Mohammed Ahmed Barde, psc (+), therefore urges all concerned parties to ensure compliance with the Court directives so as to avoid jeopardizing the current security arrangements on Owerri and other parts of Imo State, even as the State gears up for the forthcoming electioneering process on 11th November 2023,” he added.