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Police abort NLC rally
Police abort
NLC rally
•Court rejects prayer on
Labour Bill
ABIODUN
ADELAJA & MALACHY UZENDU, Abuja
STERN-looking
armed anti-riot policemen yesterday laid siege to the "Labour House,"
Abuja national secretariat of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), thus preventing
leadership of the Congress and its civil society allies from embarking on the
much-touted protest rally to the National Assembly over the contentious labour
reform bill.
But Congress President, Mr. Adams
Oshiomhole, who addressed a crowd of workers within the premises of the Labour
House castigated the police for trampling on the people’s right to peaceful
assembly and vowed that the Congress would not give up engaging the government
over issues bordering on the workers’ interest.
About 3,000 policemen effectively
blocked the protesters even as an Abuja High Court also declined an order of
injunction sought by the NLC to restrain the National Assembly from further
deliberation of the bill.
Earlier, toeing senators’
stand, the House of Representatives wrote to the Congress dissuading it from
carrying out the protest rally at the Assembly Complex, describing the rally as
unnecessary.
As at late Monday, armed
policemen had taken over strategic locations in Abuja including the Central
Business District where the NLC headquarters is situated, the National Assembly
Complex as well as the Federal Secretariat and frisked passersby in and around
the areas.
Entrances into the National
Assembly were barricaded by the security personnel who used both metal detectors
and other gadgets to screen people moving into the complex.
Just as Labour mapped out
strategies on how to beat the security to achieve their aims, an Abuja High
Court rejected the application asking the National Assembly to halt
deliberations on the new Labour Bill sponsored by President Olusegun Obasanjo.
Justice Baba Yusuf, said granting
the application of Labour would amount to his court interfering on the internal
affairs of the legislature, which is unlawful.
He, however, granted leave to the
NLC to apply for the enforcement of its fundamental rights.
In the ruling delivered shortly
after mid-day yesterday, Justice Yusuf noted that although the court had wide
power "it would be unnecessary interference of the judiciary in the affairs
of the legislature if I grant the order sought."
He said the only remedy which the
courts would grant under the circumstance was that Labour should apply for the
exercise of its fundamental rights, pointing out that appropriate legal remedy
would only be effected after the bill had been passed by the National Assembly.
"Any stay granted at this
point would amount to the judiciary teleguiding the legislature. Doing so will
negate the principle of separation of powers’ while adjourning hearing in the
substantive suit till September 3, 2004.
The NLC and all its affiliate
unions had through Messrs Femi Falana and Adeshina Oke, approached the court
asking for a declaration that the amendment sought to the bill by government
would interfere with their right to freedom of association and freedom of
assembly.
Meanwhile, Mr. Oshiomhole said
with the scuttling of the rally the struggle for workers’ welfare cannot be
compromised by any legislation.
He noted that the bill if
endorsed portends grave danger to the future of the country, urging the federal
lawmakers to dump the bill.
"Trade union has been in
existence since 1912 before President Olusegun Obasanjo was born. What is being
negotiated at the National Assembly is the future of this country.
"No shaking. I say no
shaking because they will fight the battle, but will not win the war. They want
to turn the country into a grave yard.
"If they pass the bill and
increase the price of fuel, we will organise the mother of all strikes. We have
done it before and we can do it again. There is no escape root for anyone who
believes he could turn Nigeria into a grave yard.
"If history tells us that
trade union began in 1912, how can anybody say he formed the trade union. Trade
union has been in existence before Obasanjo was born. How can a child tell his
father that a house was built before his father was born," Oshiomhole
stated.
Decked in his usual brown Khaki,
the NLC leader reiterated his call on the federal lawmakers to dump the bill in
the interest of Nigerian workers.
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