The Kaduna state governor, Nasir El-Rufai, has ordered the sack of nurses and lecturers who participated in the protest called by the Nigerian Labour Congress (NLC).
The governor claimed that some of the nurses working at the Barau Dikko hospital disconnected the oxygen supply of a two-year-old baby. It is not clear if the governor was making the story up to whip up support for his decision to sack more than 4,000 workers.
According to the governor, the employment of the nurses who participated in the protest below Grade Level 14 and lecturers of the Kaduna State University (KASU) would be fired.
Today, May 18, is the day two of the five days warning strike called by the NLC over the mass sack of local government workers in the state. The Kaduna governor has refused to shift ground, even after governors of his party advised him to engage the workers in negotiation. Rather, he declared the NLC president, Ayuba Wabba, wanted for what he termed ‘economic sabotage.’
The workers were also attacked by hoodlums whom the labour leaders said were hired by El-Rufai through a businessman in the state, Hassan Gwaska.