The Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) has said it remains unbroken one year after the arrest and detention of its President, Joe Ajaero.The labour union said it finds it appropriate to let Ajaero’s tormentors know that he remains unbroken.

The Congress equally said that despite promises made by the National Security Adviser (NSA), after the abduction and brutalisation of the NLC President in Owerri, Imo State, by alleged agents of the state, no one has been prosecuted and held accountable.

A statement by the NLC acting General Secretary, Benson Upah, yesterday, said September 9, 2024, remains a day etched in infamy in the annals of the labour movement and democratic journey, saying that attempts to silence the labour movement will always fail.

Recalling what transpired, he said: “On that day, the Nigerian State, acting on behalf of entrenched ruling interests, arrested and detained the President of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), Joe Ajaero, at the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja.

“His offence was daring to speak out against the abridgement of citizen rights, exposing the grinding poverty and exploitation, job insecurity, and deteriorating conditions of life in our country.

“The arrest and detention came on the heels of charges of cyber crime, conspiracy, and treason (plus other charges) thrown at him for a citizen protest that the NLC did not organise. However, he was critical of the mindless and disproportionate use of violence by the state in bringing it down.”

He said the act of harassment or political repression was not an isolated case but part of a broader war waged against workers and the poor. Upah alleged that by preventing Ajaero from attending the United Kingdom (UK) Trade Union Congress (TUC) conference, the State sought to silence the truth, shield capital and political elites from scrutiny, and isolate Nigerian workers from international solidarity.

According to him, it was an attempt to whip labour into line so that neoliberal policies, privatisation, tariff hikes, subsidy removals, wage suppression, and casualisation could proceed without resistance.

The labour leader said even though Ajaero was released at midnight following the threats of action from its unions, the arrest exposed the anti-worker character of the Nigerian state and provoked outrage both at home and across the global labour movement.

He called on workers, trade unions, peasants, youths, and progressive forces to intensify the collective struggle against the neoliberal agenda that impoverishes the masses within the limits of the law.