By Ehichioya Ezomon
The August 21, 2024, edition of Vanguard highlighted reactions of local and international civil society, human rights and labour organisations to the Nigeria Police invitation to the President of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), Comrade Joe Ajaero, to appear before it on August 20, 2024, “for an interview” related to investigation of “a case of Criminal Conspiracy, Terrorism Financing, Treasonable Felony, Subversion and Cybercrime in which you have been implicated.”
Coming under the headline, “We won’t be silenced over mass suffering in Nigeria – NLC,” the subheads for the reactions include: Anger grows over Police invitation; NLC alerts global labour bodies; ITUC expresses concerns; ITUC Africa warns of dire consequences; Nigerian govt targeting NLC leaders, Amnesty International alleges; Ajaero’s invitation disturbing – Yiaga Africa; Desperate attempts to silence labour – CISLAC; We demand thorough investigation – ActionAid; Why Ajaero turned down Police invitation – Falana; and NLC directs workers to shut down economy.
Save one or two of the reactions, the responders questioned the power of the police to invite Ajaero – on the grounds of alleged political motive and design to silence public dissent to official actions that affect the masses – and warned of “dire consequences” should Ajero be arrested in the course of unearthing the grave subversive and treasonous allegations.
The responders quoted national and international laws, conventions and charters the Nigerian government and security agencies had violated in their alleged erosion of the rights of workers to freedom of expression, association, and assembly, and concluded that the police summons to Ajaero was predicated on the fallout of the August 1 to August 10, 2024, #EndBadGovernanceInNigeria protest against economic hardship occasioned by the policies of President Bola Tinubu’s government since May 2023.
The responders were incensed that the police invitation to Ajaero came after the NLC leadership criticised alleged police brutality and killing of scores of protesters during the national protest – accusation the police denied via the Inspector General of Police (IGP), Mr Kayode Egbetokun, who noted that police officers, assigned to manage the protest, were actually the victims of attacks by the protesters.
For the few exceptions, such as ActionAid, which acknowledged that, “No one is above the law except you have immunity, and if you have immunity, after your tenure, you will be prosecuted” – and the stand of the lawyer to the NLC, rights activist Femi Falana (SAN) – other answerers didnt bother about the nexus of the police allegations, and for Ajaero to honour the invitation, if duly and properly routed.
While the NLC was rattling the sabre on behalf of Ajaero, Chief Falana toed the path of civility, decorum and honour, and sought deferment of the invitation to Wednesday, August 29, as the notice was too short, and as Ajaero had prior appointment before the police letter arrived.
In a missive to the police, titled: “Re: Letter of invitation,” Falana said: “We have the instructions of Comrade Joe Ajaero to inform you that he is unable to honour your invitation on Tuesday, August 20, 2024, in view of the fact that your invitation letter was received by him yesterday (August 19). He has an engagement that had been fixed before the receipt of the invitation letter. Therefore, Comrade Ajaero is prepared for your interview on Wednesday, August 29, 2024.
“Furthermore, in accordance with the provisions of section 36 of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999, as altered, Comrade Ajaero requests for the details and nature of the allegations of Criminal Conspiracy, Terrorism Financing, Treasonable Felony, Subversion and Cybercrime levelled against him.”
Meanwhile, the NLC, asking for an extension of the police invitation, simultaneously issued a notice, directing its affiliates and allies to shut down the Nigerian economy should the police arrest Ajaero – giving no room for a lawful arrest via a duly-obtained warrant issued by a court of competent authority.
Relaying the NLC position, after a National Executive Committee (NEC) meeting in Abuja on August 20, the union’s Deputy President, Kabiru Ado Sani, who briefed workers gathered at the Labour House, in solidarity with Ajaero, said: “At the end of the meeting, we reached some certain resolutions. Part of the resolutions is that, as a committed labour centre, we agreed or that we abide by the rule of law and due process.
“We will honour the invitation of the Nigerian police because we are not a faceless organisation, but we believe that we need an extension of time, after consultation with our lawyers, because this invitation was extended to the Congress President yesterday (August 19) and asked to report at the police by 10am today (August 20).
“So we are already working with our lawyers to look for extension of time, but this does not legitimize the charges by the Nigerian police to the Congress leadership. And secondly, we resolve that in an event our Congress president was arrested or detained at any moment, we put our affiliates on red alert to mobilize our membership across the country, that all workers in this country should down tools.”
The police case against Ajaero stems from an early August raid of the Labour House, in what the Force spokesman Muyiwa Adejobi claimed was in search of some incriminating documents, to establish a case against an international “subversive” element that is a threat to Nigeria’s democracy.
However, the union criticised the raid, linking it to the #EndBadGovernanceInNigeria protest of August 1-10 – which the NLC didn’t participate in, but monitored closely, and subsequently accused the police of killing scores of protesters – and asked the police for an unreserved apology.
Rather than apologise, the police, on August 19, on behalf of the Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCP), Intelligence Response Team, asked Ajaero to show up at 10am on August 20, at the Special Intervention Squad (SIS) Office, in Abuja, with a caveat to arrest Ajaero if he failed to honour the invitation.
The letter, signed by Assistant Commissioner of Police (ACP) Adamu Muazu, reads ominously: “This office is investigating a case of Criminal Conspiracy, Terrorism Financing, Treasonable Felony, Subversion and Cybercrime in which you have been implicated.
“You are therefore required to report to the undersigned for an interview on Tuesday, 20th August, 2024, at 10:00 hrs prompt, at Old Abattoir by Guzape Junction, Abuja, through the Team Leader on telephone no 08035179870, in connection with the above investigation. Be informed that if you fail to honour this letter, this office will have no choice but to issue a warrant for your arrest.”
The tone of the police invitation to Ajaero was uncivil and unprofessional, an unnecessary display of bravado and a show of force undisguisedly intended to intimidate, overraw, and make Ajaero acquiesce ahead of the invitation that linked him to the alleged crimes under investigation. On that premise, Ajaero and the NLC were right to seek the opinion of their lawyers, for a delay of the invitation.
But it’s the height of disobedience and disrespect to the rule of law – which the NLC says it upholds – to attempt to deploy institutional cover for an individual’s personal cause, which the allegations against Ajaero represent. Does the NLC equate Ajaero as the union, much like the famed April 13, 1655, phrase attributed to Louis XIV, King of France and Navarre: “L’État, c’est moi” (“I am the state,” literally, “the state, that is me”) – allegedly said before the Parliament of Paris – symbolising “absolute monarchy and absolutism?”
In the context of Nigeria’s politics, where the President and Governor act as absolute monarchs, who equate themselves as the “State,” Ajaero – as President of the NLC boasting of an estimated 5m membership – can as well proclaim himself as the “NLC” and above the law and reproach.
And that’ll be taking a page from the three oil workers’ unions: the National Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers (NUPENG), Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior Staff Association of Nigeria (PENGASSAN) and Tanker Drivers, notorious for regularly calling out their members for national or sectional strikes even for the flimsiest of excuses, and disrupt fuel supply and economic activities for days or weeks across the country or part thereof.
Ajaero successfully executed such a brief late 2023, when – a few days to the off-season election in Imo State (his home state) – he called for a strike action against the government over alleged arrears to workers. But when the workers Ajaero purported to fight for reportedly gave him cold shoulders and manhandled him at the airport, the NLC “imposed a land, air and sea blockade on the state,” and a national protest in tow, for days.
The NLC was initial formed in 1950 under Chief Michael Imoudu, who’s christened, “Father of Labour Union in Nigeria,” and reincarnated in 1975 following a merger in 1974 of the then-four central labour organisations of the Nigeria Trade Union Congress (NTUC), led by Wahab Goodluck, Labour Unity Front (LUF), headed by Imoudu, Nigeria Workers’ Council (NWC), led by Ramon, and the United Labour Congress of Nigeria, led by Kaltungo and Odeyemi (ULCN), and its inaugural conference of December 18, 1975.
So, there’s a long list of past leaders of the NLC, or its earlier variant(s) in the 1950s and 1960s, from Chief Imoudu to Wahab Goodluck (1975-1976 or 1975-1978), Hassan Sunmonu (1978-1984), Ali Chiroma (1984-1988), Pascal Bafyau (1988-1994), Military ban of unions (1994-1999), Adams Oshiomhole (1999-2007), Abdulwahab Omar (2007-2015) and Ayuba Wabba (2015-2023). In the course of union activities, these labour leaders endured frequent security operatives’ crackdowns, resulting in physical attacks, injuries, unlawful arrests, detentions, and imprisonments.
Yet, the union leaders weren’t known to deploying the umbrella union to avenge their physical and psychological humiliations and trauma from the Police, the Department of State Services (DSS) (previously State Security Services (SSS)), the Military or any of the plethora of paramilitary agencies in the country.
For example, then-President Olusegun Obasanjo (1999-2007) and then-NLC President Adams Oshiomhole were the best of “political friends,” with Oshiomhole able to eke out a 25% increase of workers’ salary under the Obasanjo government.
But when – for the umpteenth time – Obasanjo increased fuel price in 2004, and Oshiomhole called out workers for a protest, the NLC claimed that about 15 operatives of the DSS, on October 9, 2004, at the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport (NAIA), Abuja, “overpowered him (Oshiomhole), wrestled him to the ground and bundled him into a standby Peugeot 504 station wagon, which bore no licence plates,” and detained.
The DSS called the claim “sensational and inaccurate reporting,” saying that the NLC president had a “misunderstanding” with field operatives, but that the matter was soon resolved, while a presidential spokesperson claimed that Oshiomhole was only invited for a “chat” at the airport, and that no arrest had taken place.
Still, Oshiomhole – while in or out of the “detention” – didn’t seek the NLC and Nigerian workers’ intervention to avenge his unlawful treatment by State actors. He bore his humiliation with dignity and equanimity, in the realisation that involving external assistance – for economic shutdown – would aggravate the situation and the people’s sufferings.
Not so for Comrade Ajaero and the NLC under his belt! They’re ready to deploy members and affiliates to the streets in the least of provocations, especially since the 2023 General Election in which Ajaero and the union dragged Nigerian workers into supporting the Labour Party (LP), which Ajaero’s attempted to hijack by laying siege to the party offices in Abuja and the 36 States of Nigeria.
When politics blurs the line between personal and group interest, the result is what Ajaero exhibits by threatening fire and brimstone over a police invitation to clear himself of the serious allegations reportedly tracing him to a “subversive” element at the NLC secretariat building in Abuja.
Others in Ajaero’s shoes would gladly honour the police invitation, to clear their names and the organisation they represent. Unless he and NLC have something to hide, Ajaero should go and prove his innocence. It’s an act of integrity and patriotism to do so!
•Mr Ezomon, journalist and media consultant, writes from Lagos, Nigeria.
