By Charles Igbo
A former Commissioner in Imo State, Nick Opara-Ndudu, has protested the humiliation of Comrade Joe Ajaero, President of the Nigeria Labour Congress, NLC, in Owerri, Imo State on Wednesday, November 1, 2023.
Ajaero was brutalized, allegedly, by Police Operatives at the NLC Secretariat, Owerri while the Congress was organizing a mass protest of Workers in the State.
Thereafter, he was taken to the Police Hospital for treatment, and from there, to the Federal Medical Centre for a thorough check and treatment of the grave injuries inflicted on him.
While the Police denies any complicity in Ajaero’s ordeal, and, instead, claimed he was taken into protective custody to aAnd,, being lynched by an alleged mob, eye witness accounts insist he was brutalized by Police Operatives who, thereafter, arrested and whisked him away.
Photographs of Ajaero and accompanying videos which surfaced online, showed a badly brutalized Ajaero.
Ajaero’s ordeal has attracted strong condemnations from many quarters, with a number of Workers Unions, threatening strike over it.
A statement issued by Nick Opara-Ndudu on Tuesday, November 2, 2023, condemned,, strongly, the fate of Ajaero in the hands of the Police in Owerri. It called on “all men of goodwill to rise up and condemn Ajaero’s manhanding.”
In the statement, Opara-Ndudu, a former Commissioner in the State under the Rochas Okorocha administration noted: “Whatever Joe Ajaero did, it was well within the powers of the Security Agencies to arrest and prosecute him for any identified wrong doing. But to resort to the physical abuse of his person is unconscionable and totally unacceptable.”
He, also, condemned what it described as a resort to jungle justice and urged that all those involved in the condemnable act be brought to book.
Following the full text of the statement.
The Brutalization of Joe Ajaero – A Time For Action By Mezie/Dozie Owerri And All Men of Conscience And Goodwill
“Yesterday our brother and compatriot, Comrade Joe Ajaero, was beaten up by security agents while discharging his duties as the National President of the Nigeria labour Congress.
“Photographs making the rounds in the social media show that he was manhandled by the agents of the state and from his own account, the severity of the physical assault could have resulted in his death. God forbid!
“Whatever Joe Ajaero did, it was well within the powers of the security agencies to arrest and prosecute him for any identified wrong doing. But to resort to the physical abuse of his person is unconscionable and totally unacceptable.
“Mezie-Dozie Owerri, Ezuruezu Mbaise,Olu Okigwe,Orluzurumee and, indeed,all men of goodwill must rise up in condemnation of this barbaric act just as we await the reaction of the Imo Council of Elders.
“As a citizen of Imo State, I find it totally absurd and unacceptable that our State would continue to be in the news for the wrong reasons.
“Joe Ajaero has led protests in the past even against the Federal Government but his actions and those of his Comrades have been handled by the Federal Government with utmost civility and decorum to the admiration of most Nigerians.
“It is, therefore, imperative in the current situation that those involved in this despicable act are brought to account.”
The State Government, in a statement issued by the Commissioner for Information, Declan Emelumba, washed its hands off the arrest of Ajaero and any ordeal he suffered in the State.
For the records, the NLC President is from Imo State.
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