NLC threatens strike over invasion of premises

Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) has threatened to direct its members to withdraw their services if the Nigeria Police Force (NPF) fails to apologise for invading its premises.

Head of Information and Public Affairs of the NLC, Benson Upah, who stated this in Abuja, yesterday, noted that the organisation did not harbour criminals in its Abuja headquarters to warrant the “Gestapo nature the police invaded its offices and carted away documents”. Upah hinted that Labour had many options to choose from if the government and police refused to offer apologies and desist from persecuting the movement.

“We have many options to choose from. One of those options is to withdraw our services. Our members have the right to withdraw their services if the government continues to persecute us,” he said. He added that the leadership of the NLC would raise a forensic audit team to ascertain the suitability and safety of the office for the workers.

“We also promised to set up necessary machinery to conduct a forensic audit of the national headquarters to ascertain its safety and continued suitability for the use of workers before we ask our members to report to work even as we consider the invasion a deliberate act of provocation intended to draw us out,” he added.

Upah alleged a declaration of a hybrid war against NLC by the government, saying: “For instance, in the days preceding the End-Hunger protests, the Registrar of Trade Unions, acting on orders from above, wrote a letter of threat on our relationship with Labour Party, citing Section 15 (ss) 2, 3, 4 of the Trade Unions Act.

“In their bid to suppress our voice, they forgot the provisions of Sections 39 to 40 of the 1999 Constitution (as amended), the Supreme Court’s decision on the right of public servants to hold political views, the provisions of the African Charter on People and Human Rights as well as ILO Conventions 87 and 98.”

He also alleged that the government was frantically working to reduce to two, the number of years trade unionists could hold office. Upah insisted that the moves constituted gross interference in the internal running of trade unions in violation of Labour Law and ILO Conventions.

While Upah admitted that the police had offered some explanations regarding the invasion, he argued: “If the police truly had credible intelligence and if Congress was not their target, what was wrong in taking the leadership of Congress into confidence? And if they felt that would jeopardise the operation, couldn’t they have confided in the leadership at H-hour?”