Nigeria Labour Congress(NLC) has insisted that there is no going back on its planned protest billed for Tuesday and Wednesday over economic hardship in the country.
NLC President, Joe Ajaero, made this known in a statement on Sunday.
According to Ajaero, there would be a total shutdown of the country through the withdrawal of services by workers if any of its members were attacked during the protest.
The Department of State Services (DSS) has warned that the protest may be hijacked by “some elements.”
Also, the Federal Government through the Attorney General and Minister of Justice Lateef Fagbemi (SAN) has warned Labour that embarking on the rallies would be contempt of court.
However, Ajaero called on international bodies like the African Union (AU) and the United Nations (UN) that the right of the people to peacefully protest and demand for freedom from economic slavery and hardship was being threatened by the Nigerian State.
“We would want to inform Nigerians that the State has perfected plans to attack our peaceful rallies across the country,” Ajaero claimed in the statement.
“One of the groups being primed to attack our peaceful rallies is by a nebulous name, Nigeria Civil Society Forum (NCSF).
“NCSF is one of the emergency groups put together, funded, promoted and remote-controlled by the government to cause violence against our members for electing to peacefully protest against hunger in the land.
“We would want the State to know that the solution to our horrible economic situation and hunger is not by suppressing peaceful dissent or inflicting violence on peacefully protesting citizens as the government did in Minna and other cities where its agents tear-gassed and beat up women before locking them up for raising their voice against hunger.
“It does not lie in the deployment of State -sponsored terror. The pangs of hunger cannot be cowed by bullets or tear gas.
“In light of this, we at the Nigeria Labour Congress and civil society allies are moving ahead with our protest rallies against economic hardship and insecurity in line with the decision of the National Executive Council.
“As citizens, we have a fundamental right to peaceful protest and history bears us witness that our protests are always peaceful except in instances of state-engineered violence.”
