August 20, (THEWILL) – The Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) has threatened to shut down the nation’s economy if its President, Joe Ajaero, is arrested by the police.
THEWILL earlier reported that Ajaero was invited by the police over issues linked to alleged criminal conspiracy, terrorism financing, treasonable felony and cybercrime.
While the police summoned Ajaero for questioning on Tuesday, the Congress resolved to write to the police for an extension of time to enable it to consult with its lawyers.
NLC Deputy President, Kabiru Sani, who made this known, said the Congress’ National Executive Council (NEC) meeting in Abuja on Tuesday, resolved that Ajaero would honour the invitation but warned that his arrest would spark an industrial action.
Sani said, “At the end of the meeting, we reached some certain resolutions. Part of the resolution is that, as a committed labour centre, we agreed 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 and asked to report at the police by 10 am today.
“So, we are already working with our lawyers to look for an extension of time, but this does not legitimise the charges by the Nigerian police to the Congress leadership, and secondly, we resolve that in the event our Congress President was arrested or detained at any moment, we put our affiliate on red alert to mobilise our membership across the country that all workers in this country should down tool their services.
“This is the resolution because Comrades, this organisation belongs to all of us, therefore, we should do everything possible to safeguard the safety of this organisation. We, therefore, thank you very much, and you should wait for further directives from our leadership.
“Whatever happens, we will communicate with your leadership, and your leadership will communicate with you. So, we urge you to remain calm and go back peacefully to your workplace and await further directives.”
