…NLC condemns police blockade of protesting workers
CHIGOZIE AMADI
The Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) has condemned the barricade of the venue of the Senior Staff Association of Nigerian Universities (SSANU) and the Non Academic Staff Union of Universities(NASU) protest in Abuja yesterday for alleged action without government’s permission.
Members of the two unions were out on Thursday to protect non-payment of their four months withheld salaries but were blocked by the Federal Capital Police (FCT) police command at the starting venue, Unity Fountain in Abuja.
Also, the Nigeria Labour Congress on Thursday issued a note of warning to the Federal Government over the withheld salaries of the Senior Staff Association of Nigerian Universities and the Non-Academic Staff Union of Universities and Allied Institutions.
The congress in a statement by its Head of Public Affairs, Benson Upah said the government will court a nationwide protest if it fails to heed its warnings.
The NLC also knocked the Commissioner of Police, FCT, Bennet Igweh, over the alleged harassment of the protesting university workers.
Reacting to the police action, the congress demanded an immediate police apology to NASU and SSANU members whom they violated.
The NLC, in a statement also demand the immediate payment of the withheld salaries, saying it had had cause to write to the government as well as issued a press statement on the matter in the recent past.
It said the government will be courting a major national industrial protest if it continues to ignore workers wise counsel.
Signed by Benson Upah, Head of Information and Public Affairs, the statement said the action of the police was against the constitution and ILO conversation.
It reads: “The FCT Police Command Commissioner, Compol Bennett Igweh deservedly earned our outrage and contempt by violently breaking up a peaceful protest at Unity Fountain on Thursday, July 18, 2024 by members of two of our affiliates, NASU and SSANU.
“Compol Igweh caused to be deployed to the venue of the protest, armoured tanks, assault dogs and police personnel in battle gear who broke up the peaceful protest using excessive force and other hostile means.
“The behaviour of the police is an affront to the 1999 constitution (as amended), ILO Conventions 87 and 98 and African Charter on People and Human Rights which guarantee freedom of association and speech; a violation of the Supreme Court ruling that citizens do not need the permit or approval of the police to peacefully protest and an insult to the dignity of self-respecting and law-abiding citizens.
“We need to let the powers that be, especially Compol Igweh and those who sent him that we are not in a Police State and if his intentions are to scare and intimidate workers protesting under the law, then they have picked on wrong customers.
“We fought for this democracy and we will not fold our hands and allow intestinal-minded people destroy it.
“We are concerned that officers like Compol Igweh who should be inspiring a new generation of officers away from the colonial traditions of policing are the ones leading the charge into the abyss.
“We want to assure him and his ilks that no one will bestow on him a medal for his unprofessional and disgusting behaviour. However, in the event he finds himself as one of the beneficiaries this new bizarre bazaar of self-bemedalling, we say ahead of time that it is not a medal to wear with honour.
“Under Compol Igweh’s watch, FCT has been crawling with bandits, criminals and crooks (both in low and high places) even in the heart of the city. Life has never been this frightening for law-abiding citizens. Instead of training the turrets of his armoured tanks on these social misfits, it is peaceful workers that are his victims.
“Igweh does not need to go far for a refresher course on safe-guarding FCT. One of his predecessors who is now a DIG (who rid Abuja of crime and still related well with citizens) is only an ear-shot away at Louis Edet House.
“The reason for the peaceful protest by NASU and SSANU is very much in the public domain——non-payment of their four-months withheld salaries after workers in other unions were paid for the same strike action.
“The two unions had exhausted all means lawful over a long stretch of time including a warning strike as means for getting their salaries paid.
“But clearly, government took their maturity and patience for granted. What government failed to realise was that it was not only imperiling the tranquility in the university education environment, it was acting in violation of the constitution which says no citizen should be discriminated against!
