Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) yesterday said it is eagerly waiting for the President-elect Bola Tinubu to unveil his agenda for the country’s workers before making pronouncements on burning national issues.
NLC president Comrade Joe Ajaero said the organised labour, under his watch, will remain a fighting machine and go against anyone who steps on the toes of Nigerian workers.
He however cautioned the spokesman of the president-elect, Mr Bayo Onanuga, and the Imo State government against sponsoring malicious publications against the union’s leadership.
Recently, some groups under the aegis of Arewa Youth Assembly (AYA) alleged an alliance between the leadership of the organised labour with the outlawed Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) to scuttle Tinubu’s inauguration.
Ajaero, who was on familiarisation visit at the headquarters of the Amalgamated Union of Public Corporations Civil Service Technical and Recreational Services Employees (AUPCTRE) in Abuja, described the allegation as the cheapest blackmail.
The labour centre accused both Onanuga and Imo government of using some names to push out publications against the NLC and its leadership and advise them to avoid crossing the red line and creating enemies for the incoming administration.
He said the worst thing that will happen to their principal is for them to see the labour congress as an enemy.
Ajaero however said the congress is keenly awaiting the incoming administration to unveil its agenda for Nigerian workers before it can comment on it.
He said, “When people try to blackmail us that we are trying to truncate their inauguration, that is the cheapest blackmail. If we want to do anything, we come out openly and announce it to the world.
“We want to plead with the likes of Bayo Onanuga, some satanic information been circulated by the Imo State government, they are now using some names to push out publications against the NLC and its leadership. We want to advise them that they’re crossing the red line and they’re creating enemies for the incoming administration”.
“If what they are praying for they get it. It will not be good, we’re still waiting to get their own agenda because if they follow it from the manifesto of the APC, they will follow what Buhari has done and if its underdevelopment that they are sustaining, then there is a problem.
What we would want to do under my watch is to make NLC a productive labour centre, a fighting machine, no apology to any human being. If you step on our toes we will fight you within 24 hours, that is our commitment. if you like you can say Ajaero is a madman, it does not matter, that’s how we want to go about it. Some people may decide to be gentleman, but is not what we’re going to do about this job.”.
