‘Lawlessness has engulfed our nation’ — Obi condemns attack on NLC president

Peter Obi, presidential candidate of the Labour Party (LP) in the 2023 elections, has condemned the attack on Joe Ajaero, president of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), in Imo state.

On Wednesday, Ajaero was reportedly picked  up from the Imo council secretariat of the NLC in Owerri by heavily armed police officers.

The NLC said Ajaero was beaten and blindfolded immediately after he was arrested by security operatives.

However, the police command in Imo said Ajaero was not arrested but was taken into protective custody to avoid being lynched by a mob.

On October 30, the NLC had promised to ground activities in Imo from November 1, to protest the alleged violation of rights and privileges of workers.

Ajaero had alleged that the Imo government has not paid some workers for 20 months.

Reacting, Obi in a thread on Thursday on his official X page said the attack “shows the level of lawlessness, impunity, criminality, and rascality that have engulfed our dear country”.

“What happened to the President of the Nigeria Labour Congress, Comrade Joe Ajaero, in Imo State, yesterday has come as a rude shock to most Nigerians,” Obi said.

“It says a lot about the state of affairs in our country today.

“It shows the level of lawlessness, impunity, criminality, and rascality that have engulfed our dear country.

“Things like this should worry any discerning mind because it runs counter to the type of country that we all desire and deserve.

“In the New Nigeria of our dreams, abuse of power and the reckless violation of citizens’ rights through acts of impunity will have no place.”