Attack On NLC President Ajaero, Plan To Undermine Tinubu — Ugochinyere

Chairman of the House of Representatives Committee on Petroleum Resources (Downstream), Ikenga Ugochinyere, has asserted that the assailants who targeted the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) President, Joe Ajaero, in Imo State, were attempting to undermine the government of President Bola Tinubu.

Ugochinyere, however, commended the proactive stance taken by the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Tajudeen Abbas, and his Deputy, in addressing the ongoing indefinite NLC strike, emphasising the importance of the House’s intervention during this critical period.

In a statement on Wednesday, the lawmaker, who represents Ideato North/South federal constituency of Imo State, highlighted the significance of dealing with criminal activities while seeking an amicable resolution to the ongoing issues.

Expressing concern over the recurrent criminal activities in Imo State, Ugochinyere emphasised that the attackers not only targeted the NLC President but also assaulted other innocent citizens in the past.

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He lamented the collaboration between the criminals and the Police, urging a cautious approach to prevent encouraging such elements in the future.

Ugochinyere stated that the NLC’s action aimed at restoring sanity should not be undermined.

He underscored the need for decisive action against the perpetrators to prevent further attacks in the country, potentially jeopardising the government-labour relationship.

He said; “let me commend the Speaker of the House of Representatives and the Deputy Speaker who is the mover of the motion of urgent importance today on the NLC strike and the resolution of the House to intervene, I think it is quiet commendable.

“This has truly shown that the tenth House of Representatives is indeed the people’s parliament as we are popularly called today.

“This strike was avoidable, it has been on for like two, three weeks. These people that carried out this attack wanted to undermine President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, because if you believe in the Presidents agenda, you should know the implication of attacking the president of NLC at a time the government is engineering a reconciliation process that will bring things to normalcy.

“So because it is the President of the NLC, if decisive action is not taken against them, they will be so emboldened to continue to attack other persons.

“So when I heard the news that they have been arrested, Nigerians will want to see whether it’s the culprits that have been arrested, not just to fly the news that someone has been arrested.

“So, I want Nigerians to understand that NLC action was aimed at instilling sanity. I understand we need to return to normal activity, but at the same time if we don’t use this opportunity provided by the attack on the NLC president to cut them to size, they will be emboldened to attack other senior interests in the country and that will jeopardise government-labour relationship in the country.

“I support the action on the House of Representatives on the resolution of this matter and while we are resolving it, I want decisive action taken against the culprits who committed these atrocities.”