•Tinubu
The Nigeria Labour Congress, NLC, has told the Federal Government to stop extorting endorsement or vote of confidence from people insulated from hardship.
This is coming on the heels of the recent vote of confidence passed on President Bola Tinubu by the Council of State comprising former Presidents and Heads of State, President of the Senate and Speaker of the House of Representatives, governors of the 36 states of the federation as well as the Chief Justice of Nigeria among others.
The NLC further accused the federal government of insincerity over the claims of distributing 10 trucks of 50kg rice to each state to be sold at N40,000 in some designated areas, reports Vanguard.
Briefing journalists today
at the Labour House, Abuja, the Head of Information and Public Affairs of the NLC, Benson Upah, told the government to stop what he called a hybrid war against the Congress.
The NLC called for the immediate release of the member of National Union of Electricity Employees, NUEE, who was arrested in Abuja after the raid of the Labour House.
While exonerating the NLC from participating in the recent nationwide protests against hunger and bad governance in the country, NLC, advised the Police not to rope the Congress in the alleged arrest of a terrorists after its sting operation.
It told the federal government and the Police to tow the path of honour by apologizing to the Congress over the invasion of its headquarters.
In a prepared text read by Comrade Upah, NLC said: “But beside government’s dishonourable silence on our patriotic and well thought-out demands, the police have since come out to make further comments on the raid instead of an apology. These comments are deserving of our response.
“A statement signed by ACP Olumumuyiwa Adejobi claims that the raid had “no connection with the NLC secretariat, staff, or leadership….but a prime criminal suspect in an on-going investigation ….traced to a shop within the building” which they claimed was on the 2nd floor.
“The police in subsequent media interviews said the suspect is “an international terrorist” with a long history of destabilization of nations including Sudan. The police made other wild and unsubstantiated claims.
“We find the claims contradictory, self-serving and face-saving and intended to cover up their blunders.
“What were the security personnel doing on the 10th floor when the shop they were after was on the 2nd floor?
“They said they were after this “international crook of foreign descent” and yet came hours after offices had closed.
“Between the materials they took away and the terrorist, which had more value?
“If the police truly had credible intelligence and if Congress was not their target, what was wrong in taking the leadership of Congress into confidence. And if they felt that would jeopardise the operation, couldn’t they have confided in the leadership at H-hour?
“The police now claim they had necessary legal documents for the raid. We challenge the police to tender those court documents. We pray they are not contrived or procured documents after the act of invasion.”
It further said, ” On the so-called “international terrorist”, for how long did they know of his or her existence? Shouldn’t we Nigerians hold the security personnel accountable for letting the suspect operate with carefree abandon?
“And if they just knew about this “dangerous terrorist”, wouldn’t this constitute a major intelligence failure on the part of the police?
“The police and government should stop playing on our intellect. They should also stop diverting attention from the real issues that still stare us in the face ….economic policies that continue to unleash hardship on the people.
“Given these realities, we still advise government to dialogue not only with leaders of the protest but honest Nigerians on the way forward instead of extorting endorsements or votes of confidence from people who are insulated from these hardships.
“We demand that government put an end to this hybrid war against Congress. However, if the government feels two years is the best tenure to go, it should be two years for every one including the President of the country.”
Continuing, NLC said, “We advise the government to stop meddling in the affairs of Labour Party even as its destabilization campaign against opposition parties has reached a crescendo. Our actions are guided by the decision of a competent court of jurisdiction.
“The insincerity of government is so manifest. They claimed they were selling bags of rice at 40k and had to stop when the rice was being resold at 80k. Up till this moment no one has been able to tell us where rice was sold at 40k.
“We continue to demand an apology from the police and federal government for the unlawful raid of our headquarters.
“We are not aware of any terrorist in our midst. However, if government knows of one it should come out with facts and proof it is sure of instead of making the country the butt of jokes in the international circuit.
“We challenge the police to show proof of our relationship (landlord-tenant or otherwise) with this alleged terrorist.
“The police claimed our security staff made statements to them. This is another falsehood. On the contrary, it was the police that signed a document at the main gate before they were allowed in.
“We want to reiterate that even though we are the owners of barricades, we did not participate in the End-Hunger protest. Government therefore should not rope us into something we knew nothing about. Accordingly
we ask government to release those in its custody including a NUEE executive (Comrade Opalua Eleojo) who was arrested at a social spot in Abuja.
“We advise the government to stop further acts of intimidation against the Nigeria Labour Congress and indeed against the generality of Nigerians.
“Finally, and although we have to the best of our ability done a forensic audit of our premises, we will hold the Nigeria Police Force responsible for any incident at our headquarters or to any of leaders or members any where any time.”
The NLC said if the police and the government failed to apologise, it would use the instruments available to it to ensure that the right thing is done.
