Atiku Abubakar, presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the 2023 elections, has slammed the federal government over the arrest of Joe Ajaero, president of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), News About Nigeria reports.
The former vice president also condemned the Department of State Service’s (DSS) invasion of the Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project’s (SERAP) office.
On Monday, Ajaero was arrested on Monday morning at the Nnamdi Azikiwe Airport in Abuja as he was about to board a flight to the UK.
A few hours after Ajaero’s detention, SERAP raised an alarm that the DSS agents were unlawfully occupying its office in Abuja.
However, the NLC president regained freedom in the late hours of Monday. The secret police also said on Tuesday that operatives were “lawfully detailed on routine investigation” at the SERAP office in Abuja.
Reacting to these developments, Atiku, in a post on his verified X account on Tuesday, warned that “the level of oppressive control now imposed surpasses even the harshest days of military dictatorship.”
He also called on Tinubu to focus security efforts on terrorists and bandits, not civil society.
“The escalating assault on civil society and the media by the Bola Tinubu administration is profoundly disturbing,” Atiku wrote.
” The level of oppressive control now imposed surpasses even the harshest days of military dictatorship.
“The recent arrest of Mr. Joe Ajaero, President of the Nigerian Labour Congress, en route to an official event, epitomises this regime’s relentless campaign to intimidate and subdue organised labour.
“Just days prior, security forces detained a journalist, only to later claim it was a grievous error. What if the outcome had been fatal?
“Now, Tinubu’s regime extends its repressive grasp to encroach upon @SERAPNigeria, an action that stands as a grave affront to our democratic values.
“This siege is anathema to the principles of freedom and justice.
“It is imperative that Tinubu and his security apparatus redirect their fervour and intimidation towards the actual perpetrators of violence — terrorists and bandits — who are inflicting immeasurable suffering upon the Nigerian people. -AA”
