Osifo: FG Using Police To Intimidate Organized Labour, Ajaero Targeted

Osifo: FG Using Police To Intimidate Organized Labour, Ajaero Targeted

The President of the Trade Union Congress (TUC), Festus Osifo, has faulted the invitation of the President of Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), Joe Ajaero, by the police, accusing the Nigerian government of intimidating the labour movement.

The police on Monday invited Ajaero for questioning over allegations of terrorism financing, treasonable felony, cybercrime and other related offences.

But speaking as a guest on Channels Television’s Politics Today, Osifo asked the authorities to unveil the offences allegedly committed by Ajaero.

“You could see that as of today, there was a response from our lawyer, Femi Falana, saying that the government should come clean and tell us what are the offences.

“They should open up much more because Nigerians need to know. The way it is generally perceived today is that you are muzzling the labour movement. Joe Ajaero does not present himself. Anything that he is doing, he is doing it on behalf of the members of the Nigeria Labour Congress.

“For us, we will continue to be advocates to push government to do what is right in all ramifications. The final thing that we will do is to shut down the oil and gas industry so that the refinery can work.”

Petrol Queues

Queues resurfaced in most filling stations in the country early this week and oil marketers attributed it to lingering logistical challenges.

During the show, the President of the Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior Staff Senior Staff Association of Nigeria (PENGASSAN), also weighed in on the reoccurring fuel queues in the country.

To Osifo, the logistical challenges causing most of the petrol scarcity in the country must be tackled if the queues must disappear.

He said, “Even if the queues go away in the next one week, we cannot guarantee that after one month it will not return because we are always going to have challenges in the logistics until we do what is right.

“Either we fix the pipelines so that from those coastal areas we could feed the hinterland or we have those strategic reserves across the length and breadth of the country, maybe in the six geopolitical zones. Until we have that, we are in for it.

“So, the problem may be solved in two weeks but I cannot guarantee that in the next two or three months the challenges will not resurface again.”