TheCable

The United Action Front of Civil Society, a civil society organisation (CSO), has asked Hope Uzodinma, governor of Imo, to ensure the safety of  Joe Ajaero, president of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC).

Earlier on Wednesday, Ajaero was reportedly arrested in Owerri, the capital city of Imo.

He was picked up from the state council secretariat of the NLC by heavily armed police officers.

In October, the NLC said it would ground activities in Imo from November 1 to protest the alleged violation of the rights and privileges of workers.

In a statement on Wednesday, Olawale Okunniyi, spokesperson of the organisation, said workers would resist any attempt to arrest the NLC leader.

“It will therefore be in the interest of the governor of Imo state that nothing happens to Ajaero in his custody,” Okunniyi said.

Okunniyi said until Nigeria has a formidable opposition, there would not be good governance.

“We wish to call on leading opposition leaders in the country such as Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, Mr Peter Obi, Dr Rabiu Musa Kwakwanso among others to immediately rise up and unite to rally opposition forces in Nigeria to resist heightening impunity and recklessness in the governance of Nigeria, especially in defence of the future of the country’s democracy as done in other advanced democracies around the world,” he said.

“We wish to reaffirm that unless political opposition becomes formidable, engaging and active in any country, popular governance will shrink and die.”

Okunniyi said the comments by Musa Dattijo Mohammad, a retired supreme court justice, on the rot in the judiciary is “worrisome”.

Meanwhile, the police command in Imo has said that the NLC was not arrested as reported.

Henry Okoye, spokesperson of the Imo police command, said  Ajaero was rescued from a mob attack after he had a heated argument with some individuals who resisted the picketing of the airport in the state.