Presidents of affiliate unions of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), Mr Femi Falana (Legal Counsel to the Congress), leaders of civil society organisations, and several other lawyers joined Comrade Joe Ajaero in honouring the invitation by the Nigerian Police.
Ajaero was summoned to answer questions regarding allegations of terrorism financing. Initially, he was asked to appear on Tuesday, August 20, but he requested to reschedule his appearance to today, August 29.
Earlier in the day, thousands of workers from various unions gathered at the Labour House in Abuja to accompany the Congress President. However, they were later instructed to remain at the Labour House while Ajaero, along with a selected few, proceeded to the Intelligence Response Team (IRT) police command in Abuja for questioning.
Addressing the large crowd of workers at the Labour House, Mr Femi Falana stated that Ajaero “is innocent of the heinous allegations levelled against him by the police.”
NLC General Secretary, Emmanuel Ugboaja, also voiced his support, saying, “Ajaero is a leader, not a terrorist. Where would he get the money to sponsor or finance terrorism? Is it workers’ money? It’s unfortunate that the government has chosen to go down this path. Perhaps they want to distract us with these baseless allegations so that we won’t focus on the issues affecting workers and the Nigerian people.”
Comrade Hakeem Ambali, National President of NULGE, added, “The police should concentrate on addressing the insecurity that is seriously affecting Nigerians. The government should focus on resolving the issue of hunger that is killing our citizens. They should use their time and energy to find solutions to the numerous problems we face as a country. It’s absurd that out of all the people in Nigeria, it’s the NLC President they accuse of using workers’ money to sponsor terrorism. Some time ago, they promised to publish the names of those sponsoring Boko Haram, but we’ve yet to see them. Now, suddenly, it’s the Nigeria Labour Congress President they deem fit to implicate.”
He concluded by saying, “This is an attempt to silence labour, but they will not succeed. The NLC is a pan-Nigerian organisation. We look after workers’ welfare and interests, and we will not stop doing that. If this is an attempt to prevent us from speaking the truth and demanding good governance, it won’t work.”
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