BEVERLY HILLS, May 19, (THEWILL) – Armed thugs on Wednesday invaded the premises of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) Secretariat in Kaduna State.
NLC President, Ayuba Wabba, later said Governor Nasir El-Rufai hired 50 truckloads of thugs to attack protesting workers in the state.
The over 100 thugs stormed the office complex, apparently attempting to disrupt the protest by workers in the state.
However, the police detachment in the state displaced the hoodlums from the secretariat.
The Police Public Relations Officer, ASP Muhammad Jalige, who confirmed the incident, said the command arrested 20 of the invaders.
THEWILL reports that armed thugs had similarly on Tuesday tried to disrupt the activities of the protesters by hurling stones at them before they were chased away by security operatives.
The protest that was held at the NEPA Roundabout along Ahmadu Bello Way later continued after the attack.
Wabba made his assertion on Wednesday featuring on Channels Television’s “Sunrise Daily” programme.
According to him, the Governor paid N500 each to the youth to disrupt the demonstration of workers protesting the mass sacking of civil servants in the state.
Wabba said, “As I speak with you this morning, the security agencies are already there and they (Kaduna) have hired about 50 trucks of thugs to try to invade the NLC state office where our people are already converging. Is this democracy? Even under military (regime), labour leaders, labour laws have not been violated as it is today.
“The security agencies are already there, they are taking pictures, they are recording everything, all the vehicles, all the people.
“Yesterday (Tuesday), those people that were hired to carry placards, I have the records, they were paid N500 each. In fact, I have them on record, they are youths, most of them are below the age of 17. What kind of system are we running? The Press needs to ask them what they are protesting for because our people that are affected, their stories can be heard. Basically, propaganda in this case must be exposed.”
Wabba described the El-Rufai government as tyrannical and power drunk.
Wabba said, “The issue we are engaging in Kaduna is about the fundamental rights of a worker. A worker is not a slave; an employment relationship is guided by laws and those laws are very explicit. Our laws are very rich and there are provisions of the law on every subject matter. You cannot just throw workers out of jobs.
“Can any Nigerian not even trade unions fold our arms and watch a situation where breadwinners of families in their thousands are disengaged? What will be the social consequences? Already we are witnessing it. This is a core labour issue and that is why NLC is engaging the issue.”
“What is happening is crude abuse of power and every Nigerian has now seen it. This action is going to be limited to Kaduna for five days and we are still here (Kaduna) and we are going to continue for these five days and where it fails, certainly we are going to escalate it because we believe that we have tiers of government and on this matter, we are very concerned and that is why we cannot change our position because justice has not be done to those workers.
“How can somebody be celebrating the sack of workers? Is it the only state that has challenges economically? In many states, I will give examples: when Kano State tried to revert to the minimum wage, immediately we wrote to the Governor and he requested for dialogue. He put the facts on the table and solutions were put on the table, the same thing in Rivers State but in Kaduna, we are dealing with a tyrant who does not have respect for the rule of law.”
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