A COALITION of civil society organisations under the aegis of United Action Front of Civil Society (LCSFront) and Network of Abuja Left Groups on Monday condemned the arrest of NLC President, Comrade Joe Ajaero by Nigeria’s secret police, the Department of State Services.
Comrade Benson Upah, NLC’s Head of Information and Public Affairs had disclosed in a press release earlier that Comrade Ajaero was arrested on Monday at the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja while on his way to attend the Conference of the Trade Union Congress (TUC) in the United Kingdom, scheduled to commence on today (Monday).
In a statement on Monday, signed by Mallam Hamisu Santuraki, the spokesperson at the National Coordinating Secretariat of LCSFront, said the coalition “frowns strongly at the needless show of force by the Operatives of the Department of State Services, DSS in abducting the President of the Nigerian Labour Congress, NLC, Comrade Joe Ajaero in a gestapo manner”.
It said by the arrest, “the DSS has for no reason broken the civil and conventional practice earlier adopted by the police as touching security issues with well-known high profile citizens and leaders of the people like the President of the NLC by extending invitations to them rather than employing dehumanising tactics such as forceful abduction to embarrass and intimidate them like common criminals.”
It further stated: “As a matter of fact, Comrade Joe Ajaero is a huge Leader of both the Labour movement and the masses of Nigeria given his popular position as the President of the NLC and therefore deserves to be treated with profound decorum and courtesy. Consequently, security issues with him should be handled with due process and not in a rough manner displayed by security agents today capable of causing national chaos and anarchy
“For us in the organised civil society and pro-democracy movement of Nigeria, the abduction of Ajaero today is brash and indecent on the part of Nigerian security operatives and should be condemned by all Nigerians. We therefore wish to unequivocally condemn this needless rascality employed by the DSS today against the President of the NLC which has already generated shockwaves through the length and breadth of the country and may lead to mass resistance and civil disobedience in the country if Ajaero is not released immediately by the State
“Finally, as a major Pillar of the Labour and Civil Society Front, LCSFront, we wish to call on our allies nationwide to immediately commence national consultations on how best to halt the growing police State in Nigeria as evidenced by the massive repression of civil and democracy space by State Agent in Nigeria.”
On its part, the Network of Abuja Left Groups said the arrest is a clampdown on the rights to protest symbolised in the arrest of over 2,000 protesters for participating in the hunger protests.
The group said of the ten protesters arraigned last week, five are its members, including Michael Tobiloba Adaramoye (aka Lenin), Mosiu Sodiq, Daniel Akande, Adeyemi Abiodun Abayomi (aka Yomi), Comrade Opaluwa Eleojo Simeon, Angel Love Innocent and Buhari Lawal.
The group hinted that at present, operatives of the DSS are laying siege on the offices of civil society organisation, SERAP, in Abuja, noting that the unjust arrest and detention of Comrade Ajaero has brought the recent attacks to a head.
Stressing that Nigerian people have been pushed to a wall by the Tinubu regime, adding that “the violent turn that the Tinubu regime has taken against those who dare to resist its misrule will not go without reply.
“The regime, facilitated by Justice Emeka Nwite’s disturbing and unjust rulings, continues its assault on those demanding basic dignity and an end to this regime of hunger and insecurity.
“What we witness is the state’s direct criminalization of dissent in a desperate attempt to maintain power at the expense of the people. Or how else can we describe a regime that equates a call for better governance with treason?
“How else will we explain the stark contrast that the Kuje prison and other prisons across the country now hold those who should be celebrated for their courage (including minors), while bandits roam free and levy tax on citizens because they have been emboldened by the Tinubu regime’s disregard for true justice,” the group said.
Maintaining its determination to sustain the struggle to defend democracy, the group added: “We are determined to not lose this democracy that generations before us fought for with tears and blood, and with some of them making the ultimate sacrifice of losing their lives. This continually intensifying repression is not an isolated incident, but a pattern of governance designed to suffocate the very essence of democracy in Nigeria.
“The essence of democracy is to guarantee the dividends of democracy for everyone, which includes guaranteeing their welfare and security. The lives of the working poor, who face exorbitant food prices, spiralling inflation, and a collapsing healthcare system, are treated with disdain, while the ruling class secures its grip with legal intimidation and economic plunder.
“The recent fuel price hike following acquisition of private jets and yachts by those in government is the height of it all!
“We, the Network of Abuja Left Groups, stand in firm solidarity with our comrades, detained and humiliated for demanding a better Nigeria. The recent arrest of Comrade Joe Ajaero, in particular, reveals that there is a calculated effort by the Tinubu Regime to isolate labour movements, divide the opposition, and enforce a false unity through fear and apathy.
“We are determined to not let this strategy work. This repression by the Nigerian State cannot suppress the rising tide of class consciousness. Our resistance is not only in solidarity with these Comrades and protesters imprisoned but with the collective struggle against oppression and mass misery in Nigeria itself.
“The irony of labelling these protesters as traitors to the nation shows that Tinubu’s power, that is supposed to be derived from the people, now moves against the people. This situation, where those who speak truth to power are punished as criminals, demands a radical rethinking of our societal structure and a revolutionary alternative.
“We therefore call on the Nigerian masses to see this long and protracted struggle for what it is – a fight for our liberation and our long walk to freedom.
“As we approach the September 11 court date, we urge the judiciary, and its organisations like NJC, NBA, JUSUN, to remember that its foundational role is to uphold justice, and not to be an instrument of political suppression.
“We demand the immediate release of all detained comrades and an end to the criminalisation of dissent. The moral and material crises facing Nigeria are too severe to be met with silence, and no sane government should expect silence from the Nigerian people. Beyond September 11, we urge all Nigerians to troop into the streets to protest these policies that has thrown us all in poverty and thrown our Comrades in prison.”
Signatories to the statement include Omole Ibukun for Youths Rights Campaign (YRC), Kayode Salako for Revolutionary Socialist Movement, Abdullahi Waziri for Movement for Socialist Alternative, Comrade Gerald Katchy for Committee for the Defence of Human Rights, Comrade Destiny Destiny for Civil Rights Council and Agena Robert Ande for Take it Back Movement.
