NLC Threatens General Strike As El-Rufai Declares Wabba Wanted
There was confusion in Kaduna,
the Kaduna State capital, on Tuesday when thugs attacked workers at a rally
organized by the Nigeria Labour Congress as the strike in the state entered the
second day.
The NLC, in a statement by its
Acting General Secretary, Ismail Bello, condemned the attack and threatened to
embark on a nationwide strike.
Earlier, the state Governor,
Nasir El-Rufai, had declared the NLC President, Ayuba Wabba, wanted for
economic sabotage.
The state workers had on Monday
begun a five-day strike over the governor’s retrenchment of 45,000 workers and
the alleged anti-labour policies of the government.
The strike paralyzed the state on
Monday as civil servants, aviation and rail workers joined the industrial
action.
On Tuesday, the workers, as early
as 7am converged on the state NLC secretariat along the Race Course Road,
Ungwan-Rimi, Kaduna, from where they marched to NEPA Roundabout at 11am.
It was learnt that the NLC
planned to march to the Sir Kashim Ibrahim Government House, along Sokoto road
in the metropolis.
But trouble started at 12pm when
hoodlums in hundreds with dangerous weapons such as clubs, knives and stones
attacked workers and labour leaders.
Suspected thugs who came in two
vehicles hauled stones at the workers, chasing them to the other side of the
Ahmadu Bello Way before the NLC members, who were more in numbers retreated and
chased them (thugs) away.
But for the police Special Force
that accompanied the NLC members, who swiftly moved to avert the crisis, it
would have snowballed into a bloody clash.
Other police operatives stationed
by the side of the roundabout fired teargas canisters to disperse the hoodlums
while the NLC mobilised its members to chase the thugs away. The attack lasted
for less than an hour.
El-Rufai had earlier on Tuesday
declared the NLC president and other officials of the union wanted for
sabotaging the economy of the state.
But curiously, the NLC President
was at the rally at the NEPA roundabout, which the thugs interrupted.
