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Akinwande Soji-Ojo
The Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) and sister unions have vowed to take action against Imo State Governor, Hope Uzodimma, following the brutalisation of NLC President, Joe Ajaero, in Owerri, the Imo State capital, on Wednesday.
Uzodimma had while reacting to the Wednesday’s incident on Thursday, accused the NLC President, who is an indigene of Imo State, of meddling in the state’s politics.
The governor said Ajaero must learn to draw a line between his role as a labour leader and being a partisan Imo State indigene.
He accused the NLC President of trying to blackmail his government over non-payment of salaries, insisting that all Imo workers have been paid their due wages.
Ajaero was brutalised by policemen in Owerri, the Imo State capital on Wednesday when he went to mobilise workers for a strike.
The NLC accused the state government of masterminding the attack on Ajaero, who was injured and hospitalised.
But Uzodimma refuted the claim while speaking to State House Correspondents in Abuja after meeting with President Bola Tinubu to receive the APC flag as the ruling party’s governorship candidate in Imo State.
“What has happened in this ugly coincidence is that the National President of the Nigeria Labour Congress is from Imo State and has not been able to demarcate between being a national leader of an organisation and an interested party in local politics
“I understand the sensitivity of this event (protest). But I want you people to be very careful because there is an attempt to mix up partisan politics or an attempt to blackmail my government.
“I can tell you that my people are already aware; that was why the NLC Imo State chapter addressed a world press conference that what their national leadership is doing is not correct and that they are not going to join any strikes or protests.
“And in the process, they decided to dissolve them to put in a caretaker. Of course, I’m the chief security officer and I have a responsibility to intervene. I encourage the national leadership not to dissolve a management team that their tenure had not expired, and that was what they did,” he said.
The governor, who said he does not interfere in labour matters, noted that he has convinced his “workers in Imo State to believe in me, and that trust is what opposition parties are trying to fight.”
Uzodimma argued that his administration did not owe workers’ salaries.
“No wonder the entire labour congress of Imo State chapter endorsed me and I’m the only candidate they are supporting in the election. The Nigerian Union of Pensioners also endorsed me,” he said.
Meanwhile, the Imo State Commissioner for Information and Strategy, Declan Emelumba, said that those accusing the state government of having hands in Ajaero’s travails were mischief makers.
In a statement, the commissioner said: “Imo State Government has washed its hands clean concerning the arrest of the President of the Nigeria Labour Congress, Comrade Joe Ajaero.”
Emelumba recalled that the strike had been called off and “wondered what Ajaero was doing in Owerri in defiance of the order of the court, which warned of severe consequences against disobedience.”
But the NLC has vowed to take action following the brutalisation of its national president, Ajaero.
The Head of Information of NLC, Benson Upah, made this known in an interview with newsmen in Abuja, on Thursday.
The union also noted that a decision would be taken following a meeting of all its organs.
“There will be a full and appropriate response. As soon as the organs meet, you will be availed the details,” he said.