Strike: Onoh accuses Ajaero of blackmailing FG

The spokesman for the All Progressives Presidential Campaign Campaign in the Southeast Dr Josef Onoh has accused the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) of engaging in a political battle other than a genuine industrial cause.

Onoh said that the planned nationwide industrial action by the NLC was a smokescreen and a continuation of an opposition political party to claim relevance in Nigeria.

He accused the NLC president, Joe Ajaero, the Labour Party and its Presidential candidate, Mr Peter of blackmailing the federal government, using the issue of oil subsidy to distract and cause unrest and resentment against the newly inaugurated administration of Bola Tinubu.

Onoh cited many instances the Joe Ajaero-led NLC collaborated with the Labour Party and its presidential candidate, Obi, pointing out that the trio had agreed on subsidy removal during the electioneering campaigns but have now turned around to oppose the oil subsidy removal because they lost in the elections.

He accused Ajaero of attempting to hoodwink the gullible members of the Nigeria public into his personal war of vendetta, after losing his bid to become the Labour Minister which Onoh alleged Ajero’s former presidential candidate and boss had promised the NLC President if the Labour Party had won the presidential election.

Onoh stated that what the NLC wants to do from Wednesday is a continuation of the Joe Ajaero-led Labour Party presidential campaign where he openly participated as a campaign manager and adviser, adding that the organised labour failed to divorce the union from partisanship, which he said is at the crux of the NLC push to destabilize the country.

“The same Nigeria Labour Congress executive members fully endorsed the Labour Party presidential candidate and the third runner-up of the concluded presidential election. The same executives are now asking hard-working Nigerians who obviously didn’t collect the alleged bribe they collected from their sponsors to destabilise our economy,” Onoh alleged.

He advised members of NLC to distance themselves from the selfish pursuit of their leader, stressing that Ajaero’s personal quest is detrimental to the NLC as an organised group and to the stability of Nigeria.

He urged Nigerians to disregard Ajaero and his National Executive Committee members of NLC, and go about their normal businesses, stating that Ajaero will not put food on anybody’s table if he paralyses the nation, more so when the Dangote Refinery is about to commence full-scale operation that will flood Nigeria market with home-made refined petroleum products.

Onoh said that what the Tnubu administration is doing is working hard to see how it can balance the lives of Nigerians, a bond he said was made clear in Tinubu’s manifesto.

He warned that criminal elements could hijack the process of demonstration to cause mayhem and change the tide that innocent Nigerians would not expect, hence he advised that maintaining peace is usually better than stoking the embers of confusion and instability.

Onoh said that “Joe Ajaero was the campaign manager of the Labour Party who has now lost the promise of becoming the Labour Minister. This is the reason he has turned around to ask Nigerians to go on strike on the same issue of fuel subsidy that he was among the proponents of its removal.

“Now that his ministerial job dream has been shattered, Ajero can do better and go to Onitsha to take up a job with the beer production factory, or better still take up an appointment with the Next supermarket other than destabilizing the country.”