Oshiomhole also condemned the recent brutalisation of the President of the NLC, Joe Ajaero, in Imo State.
By Kehinde Okeowo
Former Governor of Edo State, Adams Oshiomhole, has recounted his ordeal in the hands of men of the Department of State Services (DSS) while he was the President of the Nigerian Labour Congress (NLC).
According to the senator representing Edo State, he was once assaulted and detained by the security agency while carrying out his duties as the NLC president.
Oshiomhole, who led the union between 1999 and 2007 made this known recently while speaking on Channels Television.
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Speaking during the chat, Oshiomhole said: “I had a similar experience… I was on my way to Delta State, and I went to the airport. The then director of SSS ordered that I should be arrested and stopped from traveling because we had given an ultimatum to the then Federal Government headed by President Olusegun Obasanjo.”
“They dragged me on the tarmac, and I had my cuts all over the place. They forcefully prevented me from flying and took me back to the DSS director general’s office — then Col. [Kayode] Are.”
“He offered to take me to their own hospital, and I said, ‘No, I can’t even trust a government that has inflicted this kind of wound on me to treat me. They might as well poison my blood.’ I said I wasn’t going to do that.”
Oshiomhole added that he ended up in detention for at least 48 hours after being “taken away” but expressed his determination to continue the struggle for justice.
The former labour leader went on to condemn the recent brutalisation of the President of the NLC, Joe Ajaero, in Owerri, the Imo State capital.