Imo Govt Speaks On Arrest Of NLC President, Joe Ajaero

The Imo State Government has denied involvement in the arrest of the President of Nigeria Labour Congress, Comrade Joe Ajaero.

Naija News reports that Ajaero was brutally beaten during a protest in Owerri on Wednesday.

The NLC Secretary, Emmanuel Ugboaja and TUC secretary, Nuhu Toro, in a joint statement, accused the Imo State Governor, Hope Uzodimma, of conspiring with the state’s Commissioner of Police, Muhammed Barde, to arrest Joe Ajaero, in Owerri, the state capital.

However, the Commissioner for Information and Strategy, Declan Emelumba, in a statement on Wednesday, said those accusing the government were perennial mischief makers always crying wolf where there is none.

The Commissioner recalled that the purported strike action in the state had been stopped by the National Industrial Court in Owerri, which makes the planned action illegal.

Emelumba said the Imo State chapter of NLC had announced it was pulling out of the strike in compliance with the court order.

He stressed that the state government has no hand in the arrest since it believes in the rule of law, wondering what Ajaero was doing in Owerri in defiance of the court’s order which warned of severe consequences against disobedience.

The commissioner added that information at the government’s disposal indicates there might have been a fiasco between lawful workers of Imo State and lawless invaders from Abuja, which led to police intervention to maintain the peace.