The statement said the NLC might be forced to involve all its affiliates in support of the legally elected NURTW if nothing is done within an acceptable time.
By Jeffrey Agbo
The Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) has threatened there would be “national shutdown” if the police do not stop interfering in matters concerning the National Union of Road Transport Workers (NURTW) and other union affairs.
The congress stated this in a press release signed by its president, Joe Ajaero, and general secretary, Emmanuel Ugboaja, following an emergency meeting of the congress’s National Administrative Council (NAC) held on Monday.
The statement made available to TheNiche said, “NAC-in-Session after exhaustively deliberating on the unlawful invasion of the National Secretariat of the National Union of Road Transport Workers (NURTW) by thugs and hoodlums escorted by the Police who peddled the name of the President of the federation in the course of their action concluded that:
“The Nigeria Police has had a recent history of interfering in the internal affairs of the National Union of Road transport Workers (NURTW) and indeed other Unions.
“The Police has usurped the powers of arbitration in industrial disputes contrary to the dictates of the statutes governing the nation’s industrial relations clime.
“The IGP has acquiesced on the invasion of the national Secretariat with a view to dethroning a legally elected leadership and installing a stooge in the Union without lawful order.
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“That there is a known democratically elected leadership of the NURTW led by Comrade Tajudeen Baruwa.
“Violence and bloodletting may be imminent in counter response to this illegal action.
“A national shutdown is possible given this undemocratic action in a democracy.
“The need to avert further escalation has therefore become exigent.”
The NAC-in-Session consequently resolved to “demand the immediate vacation of the illegally occupied national Secretariat of the National Union of Road Transport Workers (NURTW) by the Police and thugs within 48 hours of this resolution.”
It also resolved to demand that President Bola Tinubu “clears his name which is being peddled by those who have committed this brigandage and unconstitutionality from further being used to scuttle democracy.”
The statement said that if nothing is done within an acceptable time, Nigerian workers under the leadership of the NLC would be forced to involve all its affiliates in support of the legally elected NURTW leadership and its members across the nation.