We will shut down economy if Ajaero is arrested, says NLC

The Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) has threatened to shut down the economy if its President, Joe Ajaero is arrested.

Ajaero was invited by the Nigerian Police Force over issues linked to terrorism financing on Monday.

Ajaero is expected to be the guest of the Police Force on Tuesday.

Calling the National Executive Council (NEC) of the Congress in Abuja this Tuesday morning, the NLC resolved to write to the Police for an extension of time to enable it to consult with its lawyers.

Briefing the workers, who had assembled at the Labour House in solidarity with the Congress President and to follow him to the Police headquarters, the NLC Deputy President, Kabiru Sani, said the invitation to Ajaero was an invitation to workers.

“At the end of the meeting, we reached some certain resolutions. Part of the resolution is that, as a committed labour centre we agreed that we abide by the rule of law and due process,” Sani said.

“We will honour the invitation of the Nigerian police because we are not a faceless organization, but we believe that we need an extension of time, after consultation with our lawyers, because this invitation was extended to the Congress President yesterday and asked to report at the police by 10 am today.

“So we are already working with our lawyers to look for an extension of time, but this does not legitimize the charges by the Nigerian police to the Congress leadership, and secondly, we resolve that in the event our Congress President was arrested or detained at any moment, we put our affiliate on red alert to mobilize our membership across the country, that all workers in this country should down tool their services.

“This is the resolution because Comrades, this organization belongs to all of us, therefore we should do everything possible to safeguard the safety of this organization. We, therefore, thank you very much, and you should wait for further directives from our leadership.

“Whatever happens, we will communicate your leadership, and your leadership will communicate you. So we urge you to remain calm and go back peacefully to our workplace and await further directives.”