Barely 24 hours before the governorship election in Imo State, Joe Ajaero, the President of Nigeria Labour Congress, on Friday at a world press conference in Abuja, explained how he was brutalized in Imo State, saying police operatives handed him over to some suspected thugs for beating…..CONTINUE READING HERE
The NLC president, while addressing journalists in Abuja in a dark shade to cover his swollen eyes, lamented that the kind of beating he received after security agents handed him over to the thugs was better imagined than explained.
He said, “I can’t explain the beating I received. They tied my hands and dragged me on the floor like a common criminal. I am not even a card-carrying member of any political party as alleged.”
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His account contradicted an earlier statement by the Imo State Police Command, which said the NLC President was taken into protective custody to save him from a mob attack.
The statement was issued on the official X handle of the Nigerian Police by Imo Police Public Relations Officer, ASP Okoye Henry.
It read, “The Imo State Police Command wishes to clarify some sketchy reports alleging the arrest of the President of the Nigeria Labour Congress, Comrade Joe Ajaero, in Owerri.
“It is pertinent to state that the NLC President was in Owerri as part of arrangements of the Congress to mobilise workers for a mega protest rally in the state. In the course of their planning, it was reported that suggestions arose for the lockdown of some essential facilities particularly the airport which led to some workers and other individuals resisting the picketing process leading to scuffles heated arguments, and an eventual attack on the person of the president by a mob.
“Upon receiving this report, the Imo Police Command swiftly deployed police operatives to the scene where the Officer in Charge exercised his operational discretion by taking the NLC President into protective custody at the State Command Headquarters to ensure the protection of his life and that he was not lynched in the scuffle that followed.
“The Commissioner of Police thereafter directed that he should be taken to the Police Medical Services, Owerri, where he would be accorded medical attention as a result of the attack. He has therefore been accorded adequate security cover to proceed on his other legitimate engagements for the day.”
Attack on Ajaero: Election in Imo not compulsory, says NLC
In a further dissatisfaction of actions against its president, the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) has said that the governorship election scheduled for November 11, 2023, in Imo doesn’t, need to be held as planned.
Uchenna Ekwe, the NLC Head International Relation, while stating this in an interview on Channels TV on Wednesday, said that the Imo people had been plagued by violence and that the election would not produce anything, adding that the workers in Imo did not have faith that the election would determine anything.
He said, “Talking about the election, in Imo in particular, did the votes count? How did he (Hope Uzodinma) become governor? In Imo, is the place not terrorized?
“Go to Imo I challenge you, you won’t see a poster of any other party, you can’t even see a tiny poster of any other party. Get feedback from your correspondents in Imo, and ask them in the whole street of Owerri whether there is a poster of any other party.
“How can you say an election is coming up, INEC meeting was disrupted, how can you hope that there will be any election, we don’t have faith, even the workers don’t have faith that the election will determine anything, that is the truth.
“We don’t believe election in Imo will produce anything because the Imo people have been crushed, and violence has taken over the place. We are not telling them not to come out to vote but the people will be scared to come out.
“If people have run away from their homes before the election and in the build-up to the election, people are being attacked every day, would you advise your family to come out, why should we say people should not come out to vote but we are scared people will not out to vote.”
Ekwe maintained that the world would not end if the election was not held as planned.
“Must there be an election in Imo, will the world end? Will the world end if there is no election in Imo State? No, the world would not end, we are not disrupting the election,” he added…..CONTINUE READING HERE
