The Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) has threatened that it will shut down the economy if its president, Joe Ajaero, is arrested and detained by the police, News About Nigeria reports.
The Congress came to this resolution after its National Executive Council (NEC) meeting at the Labour House on Tuesday.
Recall that the police had last night invited the NLC president to its headquarters for questioning over the allegation of involvement in terrorism financing, among others.
The Congress also resolved to write to the police for an extension of time to enable it to consult with its lawyers.
The NLC Deputy President, Kabiru Ado Sani, while speaking with the workers, stated that the invitation to Ajaero was an invitation to workers, adding that in a move of solidarity with the NLC President, they would be following him to the police headquarters.
“At the end of the meeting, we reached certain resolutions. Part of the resolutions is that, as a committed labour centre, we agreed to abide by the rule of law and due process.
“We will honour the invitation of the Nigerian police, because we are not a faceless organisation, but we believe that we need an extension of time, after consultation with our lawyers, because this invitation was extended to the Congress President yesterday and asked to report to the police by 10am today.
“So we are already working with our lawyers to look for an extension of time, but this does not legitimise the charges by the Nigerian police to the Congress leadership, and secondly, we resolve that in an event our Congress President was arrested or detained at any moment, we put our affiliate on red alert to mobilise our membership across the country, that all workers in this country should down-tool their services.
“This is the resolution because, comrades, this organisation belongs to all of us; therefore, we should do everything possible to safeguard the safety of this organisation. We therefore, thank you very much, and you should wait for further directives from our leadership.
“Whatever happens, we will communicate your leadership, and your leadership will communicate you. So we urge you to remain calm, go back peacefully to our workplace, and await further directives,” he stated.
