The Nigeria Labour Congress has reacted to the statement issued by Bayo Onanuga, the Special Adviser to the President on Information and Strategy that the President of the Congress, Joe Ajaero is using the union to settle personal rift with the Governor of Imo State, Hope Uzodimma.
Onanuga had earlier accused the NLC President Joe Ajaero of ‘abuse of power’ by using the strike to punish Nigerians over his grievances with Uzodimma.
In a statement issued on Tuesday by Benson Upah, Head of Information and Public Affairs NLC, the labour union berated the presidential aid.
It said that Ajaero does not work in Imo and is not owed salary but fighting for civil servants that are owed.
The Congress stated further that the strike, which kicked off today is not for any individual, but about the need to save Nigerians from the harshness of economic realities they face due to government policies.
The union said, “Nigerians and indeed, the world to know that the joint national strike by the NLC and TUC is not about ego tripping move intended to blackmail the government as Bayo Onanuga mischievously describes it.
“If Onanuga were not suffering from selective amnesia, Onanuga ought to have known that this government should remain grateful to the organised labour for its uncommon patience with a government that was not prepared for the consequences of its fundamentalist market policies.
“The massive currency devaluation and subsidy removal which imposed on Nigerians social violence, upheaval, dislocation, displacement or punishment they never experienced.
“Onanuga ought to have known that the organised labour, by not opting for a strike as a first option, acted as a bulwark against the rage of Nigerians thereby saving this government from itself.
“Ajaero is not a member of any union in or outside Imo State nor is he owed a salary or pension payment arrears, but in his capacity as president of the NLC, he has an oversight over all the unions affiliated to the congress including the civil servants and pensioners who have been owed in varying degrees of arrears.”
The statement added, “We want Bayo Onanuga and those who sent him and the police much earlier to know that we shall not be cowed at by anybody or force no matter the resources at that person’s disposal. No government can be bigger than the people over which it presides.”
