Strike: IGP Was In Owerri When Ajaero Was Assaulted - TUC President Alleges

Festus Osifo

Festus Osifo, the President of the Trade Union Congress (TUC), has accused the Inspector General of Police, Kayode Egbetokun, of being compromised following the assault of the President of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), Joe Ajaero in Owerri.

Osifo, while speaking on Channels TV’s Sunrise Daily on Wednesday, said the IGP was in Imo State when Ajaero was being brutalized by men of the Imo Police Command and thugs sponsored by the state.

Osifo claimed that the IGP refused to take action against reports of the brutalization of Ajaero despite receiving the report while in Owerri.

“The day this thing happened, the inspector General of Police, in fact, they were even in the same hotel with Joe Ajaero, we knew some of the comments that senior police officers made that day, commissioner of police, several commissioners of police, they were there for the retreat, so several commissioners of police that our people met on that day; we knew their comments that this was state-sponsored terrorism,” Osifo said.

“I mean it was very clear. Some of these people we know their names, they know them, so the Inspector General of Police in this particular subject is also compromised. So what we are saying is that 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, 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 will tell you that 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 there in Owerri, they were even in the same hotel with our comrades that were there in Owerri, they did not swing into action, they knew clearly what has happened so he is compromised,” he added.

Recall that the NLC shut down state economic activities nationwide on Tuesday over the treatment meted out to its president by men allegedly sponsored by Imo State Governor, Hope Uzodimma.

The labour union is demanding that those responsible for the brutalization of the NLC president be arrested and brought to book.