TUC President Festus Osifo, who spoke on Channels Television’s Sunrise Daily programme on Wednesday.
The Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) and the Trade Union Congress (TUC) have slammed the federal government over claims that there is a subsisting order stopping organised labour from embarking on strike acton.
Speaking on Wednesday, TUC President Festus Osifo, who spoke on Channels Television’s Sunrise Daily programme knocked the government for “perpetually violating” court orders while expecting other institutions to obey the judiciary.
Osifo recalled that the Federal Government and the Department of State Services (DSS) violated court orders directing the release of former Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Godwin Emefiele, from the custody of the secret police when he was detained before he was eventually freed after about five months.
“Yes, we don’t have a service on the court order but we have a government today who perpetually does not obey court orders. When DSS was holding Emefiele, how many court orders were passed for Emefiele to be released? Countless number of them,” a furious Osifo said on our breakfast show.
The labour leader further said once the unions receive a court order on the ongoing strike, they would liaise with their lawyers and take a decision.
“We have a state that refuses to obey court orders. You now expect others to obey court orders but once we see it, we are responsible institutions, we will not say because the Federal Government continuously violate court institution, we will examine it and if it is the right thing for us to do, yes, we will.”
Osifo scolded the government for always rushing to court to obtain restraining orders to stop labour’s action instead of engaging the unions and addressing their grievances. According to him, obtaining court orders is not good labour relations on the part of the government.
The Presidency and the Office of the Attorney General of the Federation had berated Labour for embarking on the indefinite action despite a “restraining order issued last week by Justice Benedict Backwash Kanyip of the National Industrial Court”, saying labour must respect court orders.
Labour embarked on nationwide strike on Tuesday to seek justice over an assault on NLC President, Joe Ajaero, in Owerri, the Imo State capital, on November 1, 2023 when he was about to lead a protest against alleged anti-labour practices by the Governor Hope Uzodimma-led administration.
Workers in several states joined the strike, shutting down activities at several government-owned facilities.
Public schools, state High Courts and State Houses of Assembly were shut while some banks in capital cities closed their doors to customers, who were left to do their transactions at the ATM terminals.
However, in some states, partial compliance trailed the industrial action as some workers continue their normal operations.
Osifo said those who brutalised his fellow labour leader in Owerri must be apprehended, describing the assault on Ajaero as “state-sponsored terrorism”.
“Ajaero is an individual but he represents an institution. NLC is an institution that is rooted in the Federal Republic of Nigeria. Today, for example, if you have the President of a country assaulted in another country, it will lead to even war.
“The people that brutalise him were led by the police and the police is a national institution, Since this as happened, there is no single statement from the Federal Government until yesterday (Tuesday). For us, it is fundamentally wrong,” he said.
“The Nigeria Police led the brutalization of Comrade Joe Ajaero. So, we want those people to be apprehended. We know their names, in fact, some of the people that led this work for the Imo State government. The Area Commander that led this must be apprehended, this is not difficult to achieve.
“When we started pushing all these, there was no single comment from the Nigerian state but since yester (Tuesday), we have been having some conversations. Once we progress on those conversations, and we see clearly that they are serious to bring these people to book, that they are serious to hold them to account, then, of course, we will let go.”
In the wake of the incident and days to the November 11, 2023 governorship poll in Imo State, the Inspector General of Police (IGP), Kayode Egbetokun, redeployed Mohammed Barde, the then Commissioner of Police in the state under whose watch the incident happened, and ordered an investigation into the assault on the NLC leader.
However, the TUC boss said the unions have no confidence in the probe by the IGP and called on the National Security Adviser (NSA) to lead the investigation.
“The office of the NSA should lead this investigation; it should not even be the Inspector General of Police because in this particular subject, we also feel that the IGP is compromised.
“So, let there be a team of DSS, a team of all the state agencies that is going to lead this investigation, because if you leave it only for the Inspector General of Police, I can tell you nothing is going to come forth because he was there that day in the state when this matter was even reported to them. They were all in Owerri. They were even in the same hotel with our comrades in Owerri, they did not swing into action, they knew clearly what has happened,” Osifo alleged.