Police Invade NLC Headquarters
Arrest Labour leaders in Anambra, 40 in Kaduna
From Juliana Taiwo in Abuja, Charles Onyekamuo in Awka and Agaju Madugba in Kaduna
Fuel Strike
Following the nationwide strike called by organised labour to protest the increase in petroleum products prices, a team of police men led by Commissioner of Police in charge of Federal Operations, Mr. Lawrence Alobi, yesterday invaded the headquarters of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC).
During the raid, the security officials moved in about 10 vehicles, thereby preventing the workers from staging their proposed trek to the Presidential Villa in order to participate in the stakeholders meeting called by President Olusegun Obasanjo.
Also in Awka, the Anambra State capital, police yesterday arrested nine labour leaders mid-way into the strike.
And in Kaduna, the police announced the arrest of 40 persons for their role in the strike.
In Abuja, Alobi, who had a hot exchange with the NLC President, Comrade Adams Oshiomhole, amidst jeers and boos, said trekking to the Villa by the workers would mean holding a procession, which is illegal since no permit was obtained for that purpose.
He explained that miscreants who were looking for opportunity to foment trouble could hijack the procession.
"Whatever you want to do, do it in line with the law. We do not want it to be hijacked by miscreants and don't forget the masses will suffer at the end of the day. Trekking to the Villa will mean you are holding a procession, which is illegal. You are supposed to obtain a permit 48 hours before the d-day and in this case you have not done so. You have to get into your vehicle and go to the Villa. No trekking, please", he said.
But Oshiomhole insisted that Nigerian masses do not need any permit to express their displeasure with government's policies since government did not take permission from them before enacting policies that are dehumanizing.
He insisted that the NLC members invited to the Villa would trek to the venue because they had no fuel in their vehicles due to the high cost of the product at filling stations.
"You are delaying us from attending the meeting called by Mr. President, Mr. Alobi. We are trekking to the Villa to attend the meeting but you are stopping us. There's no fuel in our vehicles and we cannot afford to fuel it because of the high cost", he said.
The exchange dragged on for close to an hour before the intervention of the Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Labour and Productivity, Dr. Timiebi Korimapo-Agary, who prevailed on the NLC President to go in his car to the meeting.
As soon as the NLC representatives left for the meeting, the police threatened those left with tear-gas and guns.
The strike was partially observed in Abuja, as it was business as usual in almost all the filling stations in the city, which attended to customers under the protection of heavy presence of armed policemen.
Commercial vehicles were seen plying their various routes without any let or hindrance.
Almost all the first generation banks were closed for business, but some of the new generation banks in Area 3, 7 and 8 in Garki operated skeletal services.
Activities at both the federal secretariats housing almost all the federal ministries and Ministry of the Federal Capital Territory (MFCT) functioned normally. Civil servants went about their normal business.
Schools, both private and public, opened fully.
Also minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Malam Nasir el-Rufai yesterday commended health personnel in FCT for turning up for work, stating that by the nature of their job, it would be unprofessional to abandon their posts as they perform duties bordering on human lives.
El-Rufai urged residents of the FCT to be law abiding and go about their duties as the Federal Government was doing its best to tackle the issue.
The nine Labour activists arrested by the police in Anambra State include Mr. Anthony Obaze, Ernest Ubani, Obura Ngeneso, Donatus Nkembuisi, Chidiebere Onwudiwe, Dine Oliver, Christopher Ejiofor and Isaac Nwosu.
Deputy Chairman, state branch of the NLC, Mr. Don Onyenji, told THISDAY in Awka yesterday, that the arrests were made on Zik's Avenue, Awka, by a group of mobile policemen who told the protesters that they were not supposed to be moving about.
Onyenji said the union leaders were monitoring general compliance with the strike directives before the policemen pounced on them, manhandled them, and bundled them into detention. The police impounded about five vehicles belonging to different affiliates of the union, led by one officer with a name tag "Akpama".
But the Police Public Relations Officer in the state, Mr. Kolapo Sofoluwe, who acknowledged the arrest said the people affected were arrested while trying to force others to stay at home and not board commercial vehicles at the Enugu Park, near Unizik Junction, on Enugu-Onitsha expressway.
He denied that the Labour leaders were manhandled, but said they had no right to enforce the strike.
The strike was, however, generally successful in Anambra with civil servants staying away from offices and markets shut, in both Awka and Onitsha.
Government House in Awka was like a ghost enclave, as no worker turned up for work. Even the governor, Dr. Chris Ngige, was not in office as at 1.30 p.m. when THISDAY monitored the Government House for the second time yesterday. The same was applicable at the state secretariat complex housing 90 per cent of the ministries.
Banks operating in Awka closed shop in obedience to the strike. First Bank Plc, Standard Trust Bank, Citizens Bank, Union Bank, United Bank for Africa, and others on Zik's Avenue, Awka, did not open at all. But stranded customers who had come in a last ditch effort to make withdrawals beseiged the bank's offices. The popular Eke-Awka market in the city and the main market in Onitsha were also deserted.
In Kaduna, the police announced the arrest of 40 persons described as hoodlums who tried to obstruct traffic in parts of the metropolis.
Kaduna State police commissioner, Mohammed Yesufu, told reporters that the suspects would soon be prosecuted.
The state chapter of the NLC confirmed that no worker or any of its members was arrested. It also attributed the low level enforcement of the strike notice to the "peculiar" volatile nature of Kaduna, as activities in markets and other business areas went on though banks and petrol stations remained locked.
The NLC secretary, Comrade Kayode Ojo, said in an interview that, "we could not go ahead to make sure that markets and offices are closed because we don't want to give the police any opportunity to say that labour incited people to violence, nor allowed hoodlums go out of their way to hijack the situation which may result in something else that is not in our programme.
"We have also made it clear to the Kaduna state government that the NLC is not against it in any way but that this is a national project and it is going to continue like this for the next three days which will bring to an end phase one of the strike action," he said.
"If the Federal Government does not resolve the issue, then the national secretariat of the NLC will give us further directives on the next line of action to take," Ojo said.
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