The Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) has described the warning from the Department of State Security (DSS) to shelve its planned nationwide protest against the high cost of living in the country as “unsolicited advice”, saying that history will not forgive them if they backtracked.
In a statement made available to LEADERSHIP on Wednesday, NLC president, Comrade Joe Ajaero, said that the NLC and its allies were concerned by the “unsolicited advice” of the DSS, which he accused of acting as the “chief spokesperson of the government” and trying to blackmail and lie against the forthcoming protesters.
He said that NLC had a history of peaceful demonstrations and was not intending to cause any violence or disruption, but rather to express its grievances over the “unprecedented high cost of living in spite of the indescribable suffering in the land, spiralling inflation, deepening poverty and the Naira at an exchange rate of N1,900 to the US Dollar.”
The number one Labour leader added that the DSS’ claim that the government was working to ameliorate the economic condition was not convincing, as the Nigerian workers were yet to see any concrete action or results from the authorities about the current hardship they face.
The Labour Centre also questioned why the DSS had not arrested the “elements” who were allegedly planning to use the opportunity of the protest to foment crisis and violence, as the Secret Service had claimed.
NLC further stated that the protesters were patriotic citizens who love the country and would never do anything to compromise its sovereignty or security.
Ajaero said that the protest would be a peaceful one against the “unpardonable cost of living” of which the personnel of the DSS were also victims.
He added that the protesters could not fold their hands and pretend all was well, as that would be a “grievous conspiracy that history will not forgive”.
The statement read, “We are concerned by the unsolicited advice of the Department of State Security to shelve our planned protest against the unprecedented high cost of living in spite of the indescribable suffering in the land, spiralling inflation, deepening poverty and the Naira at an exchange rate of N1,900 to the US Dollar.”
LEADERSHIP reports that the DSS had earlier on Wednesday cautioned NLC against going ahead with the planned two-day nationwide protest and instead embrace dialogue to the issues involved, saying the planned protest should be shelved “in the interest of peace and public order.”
But, NLC said the caution or advice was pre-supposing that the mass action was intended to be violent and disruptive even when it has a history of peaceful protests.
“More worrying is the new role the service has assigned to itself, the chief spokes person of the government. According to the Service, ‘It is common knowledge that all levels of Government are striving to ameliorate the prevailing economic condition and as such, should be given a benefit of the doubt, So far, appropriate authorities are working assiduously with a spectrum of stakeholders to fashion out modalities to address the current difficulties’.
“We are equally worried that although the Service is aware that some elements are planning to use the opportunity of the protest to foment crisis and by extension, widespread violence’, and yet have not executed the arrest of these elements.
“We are equally intrigued by the innuendos of the Service, their philosophy of ‘peace’ and wild allegations and we want to reassure them that no one loves this country more than us and on our honour, we would never do anything that will compromise its sovereignty or security”.
“Having said this, we would not have ourselves blackmailed or lied against by the Service. Our protest is a peaceful one against the unpardonable cost of living of which the unserviced personnel of the Service are also victims. We cannot fold our hands and pretend all is well. That will be a grievous conspiracy that history will not forgive,” NLC stated.
