Organised labour has vowed to take action against the Imo State governor of Governor Hope Uzodimma, following the brutalisation of NLC President, Joe Ajaero, in Owerri, the Imo State capital on Wednesday.
This was as Uzodimma, while reacting to the Wednesday crisis on Thursday, accused the NLC President, who is an indigene of Imo State, of meddling in the state’s politics.
Uzodimma said Ajaero must learn to draw a line between his role as a labour leader and being a partisan Imo State indigene.
The governor accused the leader of trying to blackmail his government over non-payment of salaries, insisting that all Imo workers have been paid their due wages.
Ajaero was brutalised by policemen in Owerri, the Imo State capital on Wednesday when he went to mobilise workers for a strike.
He had during a press briefing on Sunday, accused the Imo State government of “violating the rights of the Nigerian workers in the state” and, therefore, vowed to mobilise members of the union in the state for a strike.
The Head of Information of the NLC, Benson Upah, said Ajaero was picked up at the state secretariat of the NLC in Owerri and taken to an unknown location, after which he reappeared hours later, brutalised.
Giving an update on the matter on Thursday, Upah said, “There will be a full and appropriate response. As soon as the organs meet.”
Similarly, the Academic Staff Union of Polytechnics has condemned the attack on Ajaero.
In a statement signed by its National President, Anderson Ezeibe, the union said it would await directives from the NLC on the steps to take.
