President of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), Joe Ajaero could not honour the police invitation on Tuesday, August 20, because he had other obligations. This is as the NLC also warned that it would initiate a nationwide strike if the Nigeria Police detained its President.
Falana & Falana’s Chambers, his legal representatives, made known his inabilty to honour the police invitation in a letter seen by our correspondent, directed to the Inspector-General of Police and signed by Samuel Ogala, Esq.
The law firm explained that Ajaero only received the invitation letter on Monday and already had an engagement that could not be rescheduled.
Additionally, the letter requested further details regarding the allegations against Ajaero, which include Criminal Conspiracy, Terrorism Financing, Treasonable Felony, Subversion, and Cybercrime.
The law firm invoked Section 36 of the Nigerian Constitution, saying that Ajaero had the right to be fully informed of the charges leveled against him.
Reacting to the development, the NLC issued the warning on Tuesday morning at its headquarters following an emergency National Executive Council (NEC) meeting, called to address the police’s invitation of Ajaero over allegations of terrorism financing.
The NEC decided that Ajaero should respond to the police invitation but requested that their legal adviser sought an extension of time for him to appear before the police.
Comrade Ado Kabiru Sani, Deputy President of the NLC, urged workers across the nation to stay alert for further instructions if the police detained Ajaero.
Stated he: “As a committed labour centre, we will honour the invitation of the police because we are not a faceless organisation, but we are working with our lawyer for an extension of time.
“In the event that the President is arrested, all workers will down tools immediately. We should wait for further directives from our leadership”.
