JOE Ajaero is the president of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) who was elected into office on February 7, 2023. He is still the General Secretary of the Nigeria Union of Electricity Employees (NUEE) and has made enormous sacrifices in the defense of the rights and privileges of workers in that sector and in Nigeria. In his verified WhatsApp account, he has a white lamb as his profile. I was initially intrigued by his choice of the white lamb but when I remember his journey from a journalist to becoming the president of the NLC, I immediately understood the powers and forces that have combined to propel him to where he has found himself today. I was compelled to sum it all as the willingness of one to offer himself as a sacrifice for the emancipation of his society and also, wherever he finds himself. This is not just an ordinary sacrifice made anyhow but one made in purity and innocence. It is a true testament of his commitment and determination to ensure that he becomes what he wants others to be before he begins to embark on its advocacy. For me, this offers a crusader the moral high ground to seek a better society.
For me, it is this purity, this refusal to compromise, combined with the zeal to make lives better by creating better societies, that has become his motive force; his raison d’etre but has also surrounded the choice of others especially those in government of the tools with which they engage him and the NLC at this time. This, to my mind, captures the dynamics that have encapsulated his travails as a man committed to changing not just the trade union movement but also changing the dictates of governance by using the platform which the trade union movement has offered him to hold the government accountable and make it more responsive to the yearnings and aspirations of Nigerians. I still remember vividly his years in journalism specifically in the Vanguard newspapers where he served as the Labour correspondent and in which capacity our paths crossed since he was reporting events in our industry. He spent time trying to understand the nuances of the trade union movement that he was reporting. To this end, he became an active member of the union and served variously both as secretary and Chairman of Nigeria Union of Journalism (NUJ) and was also Elected into the National Leadership of the union in 1996 alongside individuals like Lanre Ogundipe and Smart Adeyemi.
He became one with all of our activities and was involved in the struggle of the trade unions to free Nigeria from the clutches of the jackboots of the military. He was an activist journalist without any other intention but the passion to make our nation better like most of us who were involved in the struggle at that time in our nation’s history. The fire of the struggle for the return of the stolen mandate of M.K.O Abiola and for his release from captivity was fought with people like Ajaero and some of us as foot soldiers and ideologues. He therefore has a rich history of activism horned in the streets of Lagos and around the country devoid of any primordial preachments. He neither saw tribe, tongue nor religion in the struggle. As a trained teacher, journalist, labour expert and now a lawyer, it will be foolhardy for anyone to consider him a pushover. What he lacks in physical appearance, he makes up with his inner resoluteness, discipline and intellectual vigour. I have been in many conferences where the Masters of Ceremony would normally introduce him as “the man with small body but big engine” Men and women who change their societies positively do not come packaged differently.
I have not forgotten that he was incarcerated in jail and was billed to be flown to Abuja with other comrades who were unlucky to have been captured by the Abacha police in Ilorin during the struggle for Democracy and restoration of Abiola’s mandate. The death of the bespectacled and unsmiling head of state led to his freedom and that of many other comrades in the gulag. His commitment and active participation in that era was totally out of his patriotic fervor and the burning desire for the enthronement of an egalitarian society. When he left the Vanguard Newspapers and delved into trade unionism which as he told me then was at the insistence and persuasion of the then General Secretary of his Union; late comrade Kiri Kalio; one of the shining lights of the trade union movement of that era. However, I knew that it was not just the persuasion but his quest for a greater platform to continue his pursuit for a better and just Nigeria.
I was therefore not surprised when I heard that he had become the General Secretary of the Union; National Union of Electricity Employees (NUEE) after some years in service. It was here that his crusading spirit came to the fore and his leadership qualities became evident. He turned a Union that was struggling financially around to a Union that had investments all over the federation through his prudent management of the resources of the Union and his creative handling of the affairs of the organisation. Some of us witnessed this rise and the repositioning of the union to become a key player in the nation’s trade union movement all as a result of his insistence in ensuring continuous prudence in managing the Union’s resources. I have painted the picture of this background for the benefit of those who did not have the privilege of following or monitoring closely events around this patriotic son of Nigeria. This will help in understanding the forces that have risen to dog his footsteps and why they have risen and who they are.
These forces are manifestly those whose interests stand against what Comrade Ajaero stands for which is the creation of a Nigeria that is merit driven and devoid of nepotism but which allows all Nigerians to freely express themselves unleashing their developmental potentials for the benefit of our nation. He has kept on standing for workers and Nigerian masses so, those who are desperately seeking ways to continue exploiting the people would immediately not be at ease with him. During the privatisation of the electricity sector, he stood between the government and their journey to allegedly hand over the electricity companies to cronies. He recruited intellectuals from the universities led by late Professor Momoh and Femi Falana (SAN), the legal giant.
The debate was robust and most of the government’s arguments were roundly defeated. His warnings to many Nigerians that the exercise was not going to yield benefits to Nigerians went unheeded and as a result they resorted to the protection of the rights and interests of workers in the electricity sector since politicians had used propaganda to confuse the majority of the citizenry. Today, Government admits albeit belatedly that they were wrong and that the privatisation of the sector has not yielded the desired benefits and was a failure. He stood on the side of truth and good conscience when he would have easily sold out. He negotiated great deals for the benefit of workers in the Electricity sector to the chagrin of Government. His refusal to bow to pressures made him an enemy of that government and they decided to scuttle his ambition in 2015 of becoming the President of NLC. This endeared him to electricity workers throughout the nation, including Nigerian workers who saw in him a comrade and soldier in the struggle for the protection of workers’ rights and creation of workplaces that are safe and decent work-compliant. The pride with which electricity workers in Nigeria speak of him is intoxicating because of the achievements he has recorded not only for the Union but also for the workers directly. He has always led them from the front and would not want to send you to the picket lines without offering himself at the picket lines first. This is their testimony and anybody can ask workers in the sector for a confirmation. He pursues his belief in the inalienable rights of all Nigerian workers to freely associate and express themselves at all times without interference by agents of the state or the social partners. He has a deeper understanding of the need to build collective strength through unity which is critical for the trade unions to triumph over the powers that have kept workers suffering and the masses in poverty. These are the drivers of his activities since I have come to know him thus the reason for the discomfiture of those in Government since his emergence as the President of the NLC earlier this year.
Since that emergence as the President of the NLC, he has maintained his well-known stance of incorruptibility combined with the unwavering determination to make the lives of Nigerian workers and the down-trodden better. When he pursued tenaciously reconciliation efforts in several unions that were divided and increased the conscientization of workers, I immediately knew that he was trying to prepare the ground to mobilize and build the needed strength which he envisaged was going to be used for successful engagement with the state and the other social partners. I have watched him take positive steps in engaging successfully the then Central Bank Governor; Godwin Emefiele over the cash crunch that arose out of the CBN’s ill-conceived and ill- executed change in the design of the nation’s Currency. That matter was resolved with the intervention of the NLC which he led. This was applauded by Nigerians from all walks of life with the outgoing Government abandoning the Governor to his fate but which allowed the conundrum to be quickly resolved. Now that there is another Cash scarcity, one wonders how the NLC under his leadership will respond this time around given the character of those in Government today. Despite all the propaganda wars against his leadership by this Government, he has demonstrated astuteness and patience in grappling with their anti-workers and anti-people policies. The Fuel price hike which has left Nigerians reeling has shown his deep understanding of what has to be done. He changed NLC’s strategy and rather asked for the appropriate wages for Nigerian workers and increased income for the masses. His insistence that Mass transportation, provision of CNG, provision of cash transfers, affordable housing and the Wage Award were some of the successes he has registered within a short time. The realisation may be, by those within government circles that he is somebody that could not be easily compromised led to all manners of strategies to cripple the trade unions in the country and wage battles against the NLC and its leadership. Most of us watched keenly as the government of Bola Ahmed Tinubu rolled out its usual propaganda machinery against the NLC and the trade unions in general. They knew his history and what he brought to bear on such engagements and felt that the best approach was the different tools which it marshalled out essentially using the coercive instruments of state and other forces of terror to intimidate and cow him into submission. That was to me, part of what led to the Imo state abduction and brutalization.
All the same, before we go into the Imo State bestiality, Nigerians should remember that not long after the petrol Price hike struggle began, Ajaero and the NLC was painted as being a supporter of the Labour Party that wanted to oust President Tinubu from office. When that failed, the next thing was the failed propaganda that it was an ethnic agenda. We were surprised that instead of addressing the fears and sufferings of Nigerians, the government spent greater energy trying to cast aspersions on the Labour leaders including Ajaero all in a futile attempt to seize the narrative, discredit the leaders of the trade unions, confuse the masses thus scuttle the struggle. Ajaero’s journey is therefore inexorably tied to his altruism and single-minded pursuit of the rights, interests and welfare of Nigerian workers and indeed the entire populace. He has been found to be different which he has continued to demonstrate from where some of us stand. The general attitude in Nigeria is that everybody has a price but certain individuals have continued to demonstrate in Nigeria that there are still exceptions – men and women who cannot allow their principles to be compromised by a plate of porridge. Ajaero is one of that few. He told me expressly one day and he went into his Igbo adage, “onye ana agba nkili anaghi ekpo ntu” which he later explained to me as none Igbo speaker to mean that “a man in the public glare, must not be seen messing up”. He has chosen not to mess up and betray the public trust especially that of workers who collectively chose him as the President of the NLC without any opposition. When I read his acceptance speech in the media; one of the things that struck me the most was his avowal to God; “that if ever he will use his position as the NLC president to enrich himself and family, that God should deal with him and not allow him to become the President” I shuddered when I read that and I marveled at the level of this commitment that a man can make before God and man! Thus far, he has not disappointed.
Immediately after engaging the government on the petrol price hike, his residence in Lagos got burnt. Nothing came out of that building as all of us read in the media except his Bible and his certificates. Fortunately, no life was lost in that mysterious fire which no agency of government has been able to explain to Nigerians how it happened. Regardless, I am sure that Nigerian workers and masses took note of that incident but some of us suspected that the battle had been joined by fire. We knew that more was to come. Ajaero continued soldiering on refusing to be deterred and performing his duties without being fazed. We were therefore not surprised over the Owerri Imo State abduction and brutalisation meted out to him by the police. Nigerians are worried that the nation’s number one law enforcer will be in a state where such action occurred without showing an immediate outrage and response rather than the lukewarm denial and lethargic steps taken which to my mind amounted to a botched attempt at a cover-up. Owerri was a demonstration of his continued commitment to the protection and defense of the rights of workers. A state where workers were owed years and months in arrears of salaries. He and the NLC leadership had patiently engaged the governor since 2021 and for months in 2023 allowing the governor to dictate agreements which he the Governor eventually failed to implement. The moment the organs of the NLC and TUC had taken the decision to go to Imo State after some comrades were beginning to insinuate that he was favouring the governor, I personally knew that he was going to lead the struggle himself. He was therefore left with no other option but to lead workers to fight for the protection of their comrades in the state. He had to lead from the front as usual not minding the cost to his person. He knew that for him to successfully rid the nation of the abuse and violation of workers’ rights, he must start from home. Charity, they say, begins at home!
The violence meted out to him was a continuation of the sacrifice which he has always been prepared to make both as a Journalist with the Vanguard Newspapers, a General Secretary of NUEE and now as President of the NLC. When I commiserated with him over the phone, he said that he was more than ever encouraged by that incident rather than weakened as he remained more committed to the struggle for the emancipation of the rights and privileges of workers in Nigeria, I have a feeling that he is prepared to make more sacrifices to ensure that his objective of a stronger NLC and the trade union movement in Nigeria is achieved. His journey from the police Clinic Owerri where we were told he was dumped after brutalization, to the Federal Medical Centre (FMC) Owerri to Turkish Hospital Abuja then, to Eye Foundation also in Abuja and finally to Canadian Specialist Hospital rather than weaken him must have toughened him. With what I know about him, his resolve is already strengthened and he will be strategizing with his team for a more robust engagement with all parties. It will be a battle of those who lay false claims to the struggle for June 12 and the genuine ones who combed the nooks and crannies of the nation mobilizing Nigerians for the restoration of M.K.O Abiola’s mandate. My fear for him at times is whether those who are in his team are able to match his pace and commitment. I am also worried that the Nigerian state under Tinubu has become more anti-people and this will put the government at daggers drawn with the AJaero that I know meaning that there will be more ferocious battles ahead. How fierce these battles will be is dependent on how the Government is able to tone down its belligerent bent and relate with the NLC under Ajaero within the principles of social dialogue rather than the present use of brigandage and violence which may have unfortunately become their instrument of choice. Ajaero is a seed that is willing to die to give life and the funny thing though is that he does all of these with great humility not expecting applause or plaudits from anybody but is always satisfied when results are achieved for workers and the people. He remains the right kind of leader that Nigeria needs at this time and that is why people like us have taken keen interest in his leadership qualities. Our prayer is; may he succeed in making NLC stronger so that with that, we can hold government accountable thus create a better Nigeria.
Having watched his trajectory all these years, noting his consistency on the side of the down-trodden and much more his humility to willingly offer himself at all times as a sacrifice for the cause of workers and the nation, I pity any government that is under the illusion that using the police and thugs to inflict violence on him will deter him. He is a man of conviction and is willing to make the required sacrifice to ensure that his overall vision of a fair and equitable nation built on the protection of the rights and privileges of the masses and the vulnerable is achieved. The only way to dissuade such people is through dialogue. Once you are able to marshal a superior argument to his, Ajaero will capitulate so, I advise the President and his handlers and other leading players in government at all levels to be prepared to robustly engage the NLC under his leadership with credible facts marshalled in an unassailable manner. Trying to intimidate him or bring him unto subjection by sheer use of state power will be counter – productive as it has already proven. The more he is pressed down, the stronger he becomes and that has been the case thus far. You abducted and brutalized him but he emerged stronger. That Nigerian workers and masses had to shutdown the whole nation for one man bears testimony to his growing influence and popularity. As it stands today, he is the most visible alternate voice to those who occupy the seat of power in Nigeria and almost the suffering masses are always eager to hear his voice concerning most of the issues confronting the nation. He has lately become more associated with the struggle for the liberation of the masses from the unfortunate hardship which the policies of this government have foisted on them. It is either this Government becomes more committed to transparency in its activities and winning the NLC over or continuing with its anti-workers policies and have the NLC under Ajaero to contend with. He will not back down! He said that he knew from the beginning that he was going to be called all manners of names in his pursuit of better deals for Nigerian workers! He also said that he knew that they were going to deploy all manners of propaganda against him and that they will ultimately try the use of violence against him and his team, but that one thing is certain: he will remain focused and continually willing to make the necessary sacrifice.
In Ajaero, Nigeria has found one of the few leaders willing to make sacrifices for the greater good, a seed that willingly gives life. As he steers the NLC towards strength and accountability, one can only hope for the realization of a better Nigeria under his tutelage in NLC, echoing the sentiments of many who recognize him as the leader the nation needs at this critical juncture. Ignoring this force which he has become will be the greatest mistake this government will make as Nigerian workers and masses prepare to follow him come 2024.
- Zagga, PhD, writes in via [email protected]
and then