The ongoing strike embarked upon by organized labour has further pitted the Federal Government against the Nigeria Labour Congress and the Trade Union Congress against the Nigerian government.
Organised labour has accused the FG of not obeying court orders themselves in the face of the accusation by the FG that organized labour disobeyed a court order stopping it from embarking on the strike.
In its defence, organized labour denied receiving any court order from the Federal Government or any of its parties not to proceed with the strike which commenced on Tuesday.
TUC President Festus Osifo, who spoke on Channels Television’s Sunrise Daily programme on Wednesday, knocked the government for “perpetually violating” court orders while expecting other institutions to obey the judiciary.
Osifo recalled that the Federal Government and the Department of State Services (DSS) violated court orders directing the release of former Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Godwin Emefiele, from the custody of the secret police when he was detained before he was eventually freed after about five months.
“Yes, we don’t have a service on the court order but we have a government today who perpetually does not obey court orders. When DSS was holding Emefiele, how many court orders were passed for Emefiele to be released? Countless number of them,” a furious Osifo said on our breakfast show.
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The labour leader further said once the unions receive a court order on the ongoing strike, they would liaise with their lawyers and take a decision.
“We have a state that refuses to obey court orders. You now expect others to obey court orders but once we see it, we are responsible institutions, we will not say because the Federal Government continuously violate court institution, we will examine it and if it is the right thing for us to do, yes, we will.”
Osifo scolded the government for always rushing to court to obtain restraining orders to stop labour’s action instead of engaging the unions and addressing their grievances. According to him, obtaining court orders is not good labour relations on the part of the government.
The Presidency and the Office of the Attorney General of the Federation had berated Labour for embarking on the indefinite action despite a “restraining order issued last week by Justice Benedict Backwash Kanyip of the National Industrial Court”, saying labour must respect court orders.
Meanwhile, the National Security Adviser (NSA), Nuhu Ribadu, Wednesday, said an investigation has commenced into an assault on the President of the NLC, Joe Ajaero.
The NSA also said some suspects have been arrested in connection to the incident in Owerri, the Imo State capital, on November 1, 2023.
In a statement signed by the Head of Strategic Communication in the NSA Office, Zakari Mijinyawa, Ribadu “regrets the incident” on Ajaero and “condemns it in its entirety as it was against the rule of law and the principles of freedom of association and expression subscribed to by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu and his administration”.
The NSA said the Federal Government will never condone such an act.
“As a fallout of the incident relevant authorities were directed to conduct a thorough investigation into the circumstances surrounding the assault and bring to book the culprits. Available update indicates that some arrests have already been made in this regard. The outcome of the investigation will be made public as soon as it is concluded,” the statement partly read.
“The Federal Government, through the Office of the NSA, therefore appeals to the labour leadership to call off the current strike action and allow the dialogue process underway to be exhausted.”
