Labour’s clout and misuses

Organised labour pulled back on its nationwide strike last Wednesday, following intervention by the Federal Government through National Security Adviser (NSA) Nuhu Ribadu. That was after nearly 48 hours into the action it had threatened would be indefinite until government met its demands over brutalisation of Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) President Joe Ajaero along with other labour leaders in Owerri on November 1. Ajaero had been in the Imo State capital to arrowhead a planned protest by state workers against Governor Hope Uzodinma over labour grievances that included outstanding salary arrears, allegedly unjust declaration of 11,000 state employees as ghost workers, unsettled gratuities, non-compliance by the state government with the N30,000 minimum wage act, and declaration of 10,000 pensioners as ghost retirees.

Labour warriors including leaders from the other labour centre – the Trade Union Congress (TUC) – had gathered at the NLC state secretariat in Owerri to begin a scheduled protest when goons believed to represent the interest of Uzodinma, who is of the All Progressives Congress (APC), pounced  on Ajaero and his squad, battering them black and blue. The assailants reportedly smashed vehicles parked at the NLC office and inflicted injuries on the labour activists. Ajaero was arrested by the police, who said he was only taken into protective custody to rescue him from the assailants. He was later released upon intervention by NSA Ribadu.

The wisdom of Ajaero dabbling in the Imo labour row at the time he did is highly questionable, considering it was less than two weeks from the state’s off-cycle governorship poll along with two others that held on November 11. Expectedly, that was a time when political emotions were at boiling point and every action viewed through the prism of partisanship. Worse is that the NLC leader is a native of Imo, and he leads an organisation perceived as habouring partisan support for Labour Party (LP). Even if there were genuine labour issues to be thrashed with the state government, expedience should have dictated that these be held on and taken up with Uzodinma if he returned as state governor – which he eventually did – or sorted out with whoever else emerged from the governorship race had he not returned. Ajaero plunged in the fray at an inauspicious time and with dubious objectivity, which apparently informed his manhandling by partisan goons. 

But it is by no means acceptable that people resorted to jungle conversation, presumably to ply their master’s interest, even if they deciphered partisan motive on Ajaero’s part. It is also curious that the police took the labour leader into ‘protective custody’ without apprehending any of his assailants. Ajaero was later to allege that police personnel also brutalised him while in their custody. Governor  Uzodinma along the line accused the labour leader of partisan meddling in the state’s politics, but he later offered apology  over his brutalisation because that happened in his (Uzodinma’s) state and under his watch.

A famous creed of labour activism is ‘injury to one is injury to all,’ hence organised labour took the treatment meted out to Ajaero as a collective affront. TUC rallied to the side of NLC and together they rolled out a nationwide strike, one week after a localised strike called in Imo faltered. TUC President Festus Osifo, who spoke on behalf of the two labour centres, said the strike was to make government at all levels “wake up to their responsibilities.” Labour called its strike in defiance of an interim restraining order issued on November 10 by the National Industrial Court (NIC), with a charter of demands from government that included removal, arrest and prosecution of Imo administration and police officials alleged to have played some role in the attack on Ajaero. The labour centres also insisted on investigation and prosecution of former Imo State Police Commissioner Ahmed Barde, who Police Inspector-General Kayode Egbetokun had redeployed earlier on to defuse tension over the Ajaero attack. While the strike lasted, it paralysed activities in some states and sectors of the economy, but was spurned by workers in some states.

“(Ajaero’s) manhandling in Owerri was criminal and must be redressed with all the force of law. But labour upscaling the Imo dispute into a national action was grossly overreaching”

Although other agents of government like Labour and Productivity Minister Simon Lalong and the National Assembly (NASS) leadership intervened to rein in labour’s anger, it was the  role of NSA Ribadu that saved the day. At the meeting with labour leaders last Wednesday, the NSA disclosed that some suspects of the assault on Ajaero had been arrested and would be investigated, and findings from the investigation made public soon as it is concluded. “As attested by the NLC leadership, the NSA immediately intervened upon learning about the travails of the President of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), Comrade Joseph Ajaero, who was assaulted in Owerri, Imo State. The NSA regrets the incident and condemns it in its entirety as it was against the rule of law and the principles of freedom of association and expression subscribed to by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu and his administration,” a statement by Ribadu’s spokesperson, Zakari Mijinyawa, said.

It was effectively on the strength of Ribadu’s intervention that organised labour eventually shelved its nationwide strike. In a statement he jointly signed with TUC Secretary-General Nuhu Toro, NLC General Secretary Emmanuel Ugboaja said: “The NEC in-session had a thorough review of the offers presented by the Federal Government through the National Security Adviser (NSA), Nuhu Ribadu. We found the offers credible and decided to reconsider our action.” He noted that the strike suspension was intended to facilitate further discussions after government had met labour’s crucial demands, adding: “We expect government to address the distressing abduction and brutalisation of…Ajaero and others.”

But here are the issues: The NLC leader was widely accused of using the weapon of labour agitation in fighting a private battle – that is, his maltreatment in Imo State. And if you ponder on it, the only sense to make of the resolve and unity of the labour movement to fight alongside him is that the Owerri assault touched on a raw nerve in labour’s psyche, namely that harm to one member translates to a collective harm, especially when such harm is viewed as unjust. There is, however, also the question of propriety and proportion. The original grouse in the present matter was a localised labour grievance in Imo; and it is strange that workers in the state did not see a golden opportunity in the election looming at the time to make a statement on their displeasure with Uzodinma’s administration by voting against him, rather than plan a street action that portended being disruptive that same opportunity. The workers plunged the state into darkness by cutting off electricity supply, which was not restored through polling day and up till after the nationwide strike was called off last Wednesday. But the outcome showed the aggrieved workers as being of no consequence, because Uzodinma emerged victorious in all of Imo’s 27 council areas to win re-election and you would want to ask: where was Ajaero’s brigade?!

To be clear, the NLC leader’s manhandling in Owerri was criminal and must be redressed with all the force of law. But labour upscaling the Imo dispute into a national action was grossly overreaching. The tragedy is that many Nigerians anchor their hope on the labour movement to ply their interest amidst ongoing economic reform of the Bola Tinubu presidency that has entailed enormous hardships for the citizenry. A weapon that will remain potent must be sparingly and speciously used, such that whenever it is wielded, the governing class shivers. The weapon of labour agitation is too strategic in Nigeria’s present circumstance to be so triflyl wielded.

 Power flips in Liberia

Liberia recorded a power shift, last Friday, as former Vice-President Joseph Boakai emerged winner of the run-off poll held Tuesday. The 78-year-old managed to secure a narrow victory over incumbent President George Weah, polling 50.9 percent of the vote to Weah’s 49.1 percent with nearly all the votes counted.

The beauty was 57-year-old Weah’s concession speech even before the final tally. “The results announced tonight, though not final, indicate that (Boakai) is in a lead that we cannot surpass. A few moments ago, I spoke with President-elect Boakai to congratulate him on his victory,” Weah said in a national broadcast, adding: “The Liberian people have spoken and we have heard their voice.” He asked his supporters to “follow my example and accept the result of the election,” adding that “our time will come again” in 2029 when Boakai’s six-year term of office ends. That is the stuff political gladiators in Africa should be made of.