The travails of Ajaero: Sacrifice in humility – Part 2

His stance was completely demonstrated for all to see when he refused to be bullied by the then Government of President Goodluck Jonathan. During the Privatisation of the Electricity sector, he stood between the government and their journey to hand over the Electricity companies to their cronies. He recruited intellectuals from the Universities led by late Professor Momoh and Femi Falana (SAN), the legal giant. The debate was robust and most of the government’s arguments were roundly defeated.

His warnings to many Nigerians that the exercise was not going to yield benefits to Nigerians went unheeded and as a result they resorted to the protection of the rights and interests of workers in the electricity sector since politicians had used propaganda to confuse the majority of the citizenry.

Today, government admits albeit belatedly that they were wrong and that the Privatisation of the sector has not yielded the desired benefits and was a failure. He stood on the side of truth and good conscience when he would have easily sold out.

What I found refreshing and different about Ajaero was that despite the huge sums of bribe offered in him by agents of the government, he refused to collect and refused to budge. Monies that were offered him in secret and in various foreign currencies. I wonder how many activists of today who would have resisted such temptation but he did. This was at the risk of his life as he became the target of many who were poised to benefit from that unholy exercise. I got to know about this through the testimony of a friend who is a sister of a top security operative who was one of those that carried out the operation of trying to compromise him with the slush fund which he refused.

The friend told me that she betted with her brother that he will not bite so, when the plot failed, her brother was surprised. Her account remained indelible in my mind and has further endeared me to this man who I consider one of those who would always bring something new to leadership whenever he is offered such opportunity.

He contended and negotiated great deals for the benefit of workers in the Electricity sector to the chagrin of Government. His refusal to bow to pressures made him an enemy of that government and they decided to scuttle his ambition in 2015 of becoming the President of NLC while the Government also made efforts via the instruments of the state to abduct him severally which failed.

This endeared him to electricity workers throughout the nation including Nigerian workers who saw in him a comrade and soldier in the struggle for the protection of workers’ rights and creation of workplaces that are safe and Decent Work compliant. The pride with which electricity workers in Nigeria speak of him is intoxicating because of the achievements he has recorded not only for the Union but also for the workers directly. He has always led them from the front and would not want to send you to the picket lines without offering himself at the picket lines first. This is their testimony and anybody can ask workers in the sector for a confirmation.

He pursues his belief in the inalienable rights of all Nigerian workers to freely associate and express themselves at all times without interference by agents of the state or the social partners. He has a deeper understanding of the need to build collective strength through unity which is critical for the trade unions to triumph over the powers that have kept workers suffering and the masses in poverty. These are the drivers of his activities since I have come to know him thus the reason for the discomfiture of those in government since his emergence as the President of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) earlier this year.

Since that emergence as the President of the Nigeria labour Congress, he has maintained his well-known stance of incorruptibility combined with the unwavering determination to make the lives of Nigerian workers and the down-trodden better. When he pursued tenaciously reconciliation efforts in several unions that were divided and increased the conscientisation of workers, I immediately knew that he was trying to prepare the ground to mobilise and build the needed strength which he envisaged was going to be used for successful engagement with the state and the other social partners.

I have watched him take positive steps in engaging successfully the then Central Bank Governor, Godwin Emefiele, over the Cash crunch that arose out of the CBN’s ill-conceived and ill – executed change in the design of the nation’s currency. That matter was resolved with the intervention of the NLC which he led. This was applauded by Nigerians from all walks of life with the outgoing Government abandoning the Governor to his fate but which allowed the conundrum to be quickly resolved. Now that there is another Cash scarcity, one wonders how the NLC under his leadership will respond this time around given the character of those in Government today.

Despite all the propaganda wars against his leadership by this Government, he has demonstrated astuteness and patience in grappling with their anti-workers and anti-people policies. The Fuel price hike which has left Nigerians reeling has shown his deep understanding of what has to be done.

He changed NLC’s strategy and rather asked for the appropriate wages for Nigerian workers and increased income for the masses. His insistence that Mass transportation, provision of CNG, Provision of Cash transfers, affordable housing and the Wage Award were some of the successes he has registered within a short time.

The realisation may be, by those within government circles that he is somebody that could not be easily compromised led to all manners of strategies to cripple the trade unions in the country and wage battles against the NLC and its leadership. Most of us watched keenly as the Government of Bola Ahmed Tinubu rolled out its usual propaganda machinery against the NLC and the trade unions in general.

They knew his history and what he brings to bear on such engagements and felt that the best approach was the different tools which it marshalled out essentially using the coercive instruments of state and other forces of terror to intimidate and cow him into submission. That was to me, part of what led to the Imo state abduction and brutalisation.

All the same, before we go into the Imo state bestiality, Nigerians should remember that not long after the Petrol Price hike struggle begun, Ajaero and the NLC was painted by the Government as being a supporter of the Labour Party that wanted to oust President; Bola Ahmed Tinubu from office. When that failed, the next thing was the failed propaganda that it was an ethnic agenda. When that one failed, the resort to strong arm tactics began. We were surprised that instead of addressing the fears and sufferings of Nigerians, the government spent greater energy trying to cast aspersions on the Labour leaders including Ajaero all in a futile attempt to seize the narrative, discredit the leaders of the trade unions, confuse the masses thus scuttle the struggle.

Ajaero’s journey is therefore inexorably tied to his altruism and single-minded pursuit of the rights, interests and welfare of Nigerian workers and indeed the entire populace. He has been found to be different which he has continued to demonstrate from where some of us stand. The general attitude in Nigeria is that everybody has a price but certain individuals have continued to demonstrate in Nigeria that there are still exceptions – men and women who cannot allow their principles to be compromised by a plate of porridge.

Ajaero is one of that few. He told me expressly one day and he went into his Igbo adage, ‘onye ana agba nkilianaghiekpontu’ which he later explained to me as none Igbo speaker to mean that “a man in the Public glare, must not be seen messing up.”

To be continued tomorrow.