- Ajaero: I was beaten, dragged on floor by thugs
- IGP orders investigation of alleged assault of NLC President
The National Industrial Court of Nigeria (NICN) yesterday issued an order of interim injunction restraining members of the organised labour, including the Nigerian Labour Congress (NLC), the Trade Union Congress (TUC) and their affiliates, from proceeding with the strike they planned to commence on November 14.
The President of the court, Justice Benedict Kanyip, issued the order while ruling on an ex-parte application brought by the Attorney General of the Federation (AGF) on behalf of the Federal Government and argued by Tijani Gazali (SAN), Acting Director (Civil Appeals), Federal Ministry of Justice.
Justice Kanyip said the order shall subsist until the determination of a motion on notice for interlocutory injunctions equally filed by the AGF.
The judge said the court is empowered under sections Section 7(1) and 19(a) of the NICN Establishment Act to hear such ex-parte application and grant such ex-parte order where a strike is threatened but yet to be commenced, as in this case.
Justice Kanyip equally granted leave to the Federal Government to serve the restraining order and other originating processes filed in the suit, through substituted means, by pasting same at conspicuous places in NLC and TUC offices in Abuja.
The judge also ordered the publication of the court documents in two national dailies.
He subsequently reassigned the case to Justice Olufunke Anuwe (another judge of the court in Abuja) before whom a similar case was already pending.
Gazali had, while moving the ex-parte application, prayed the court to grant the relief sought in view of the sensitive nature of the case.
He noted that flights were disrupted in Abuja and other parts of the country on Thursday by members of the respondents (NLC and TUC), who were enforcing flight ban to Imo State.
“People who had no business in Imo State were all affected and left stranded by the activities of members of the respondents,” Gazali said.
He urged the court to grant the relief sought in order to restrain the respondents and prevent a possible breakdown of law and order, which will occasion further hardship on innocent and law abiding citizens.
Meanwhile, President of the Nigeria Labour Congress, Joe Ajaero, has given an account of the recent physical attack on him by suspected thugs in Imo State.
Ajaero said he was arrested by the police in Owerri, Imo State capital and handed over to thugs numbering seven, who beat him and dragged him on the floor like a common criminal.
The NLC president gave the account at a press conference in Abuja yesterday.
He said the NLC wrote to all the security agencies before they went to the state for a protest last week.
The labour leader said he gave his itinerary to the Department of State Services on the day of the protest.
The NLC president said that workers who arrived at the venue of the protest around 7 am on that day were beaten up by thugs who also seized their phones.
He said two workers of Television Continental were handcuffed and their cameras seized during the protest.
Ajaero said he got there around 9am after he got the report of an assault on workers.
The NLC president alleged that the police arrested him and handed him over to thugs.
He said: “A police officer arrested me and handed me over to thugs. That was how they dragged me on the floor and took me to a bus. About seven people.
“I can’t explain the beating I received. They tied my hands and eyes and dragged me on the floor like a common criminal.
“They asked me to say my last prayers.”
Ajaero said he is not a card-carrying member of any political party as alleged.
He said: “He (Gov Uzodimma) said I am playing local politics. I do not know which one is local politics. I am not a card-carrying member of any political party in Nigeria.
“And as a governor, he should be privileged to some classified information to say which political party I belong to. But I thank God that I am alive today.
“Whoever has diverted the workers’ money has diverted blood money and has attracted generational curse.
“I am not sure that anybody from my village is contesting for any election, not to talk of my family members.
“I do not have any family members or whatever running for election. But they are free to run if they are interested. If I want to run for any office tomorrow, I will pick the form of any party.
“There is no law that forbids a civil servant from contesting elections. The Appeal Court has also made it clear that you do not need permission for a protest or rally; you only inform the security.
“There were some media organisations that their staff were humiliated on that day. Two TVC staff were handcuffed. Were they also playing politics? And the TVC has kept criminal silence about it.
“Why has the NUJ not said a word about the humiliation of journalists?”
He said the struggle to ensure that workers in Imo are paid would continue.
The labour leader said not even his death would stop the struggle to ensure that workers who are being owed are paid their entitlements.
“Not even my death could have stopped the struggle for the payment of those workers. If I had died in the process, the people that would take over would be more daring.
“Any of the deputies here that would take over, would have been more decisive. So nobody is backing out; it is a question of allowing justice to prevail, and the people you are owing, you pay them.”
The Inspector -General of Police (IGP), Kayode Egbetokun, has ordered investigation into the circumstances surrounding the alleged assault on the person of Ajaero.
Egbetokun directed the Deputy Inspector General in charge of the Force Criminal Investigation Department to take over the matter with the primary objective of ascertaining the facts surrounding the incident.
The investigation, the police boss said, will also address any ambiguities that may exist as the Police have been inundated with different versions of the incident, making investigations imperative to clear the conflicting accounts.
A statement issued yesterday by the Force Public Relations Officer, ACP Olumuyiwa Adejobi, said: “The Nigeria Police Force understands the importance of transparency and accountability in maintaining public trust.
“The IGP therefore assures the public, most especially the leadership of the organised labour, that a thorough and unbiased inquiry will be conducted to provide clarifications while urging organised labour and the public to remain calm, as he has personally intervened to address the issues surrounding this incident.”
Adejobi, who said investigation had commenced, added that the Nigeria Police Force guarantees that it will be followed to a conclusive end and appropriate actions will be taken based on the findings of the investigation.
