Organised Labour (Nigerian Labour Congress, NLC, and Trade Unions Congress, TUC, and their affiliate unions), were not officially part of the recently-ended #EndBadGovernance protests.

Labour appears to have chosen to focus specifically on the core needs of its members rather than being the ombudsman of all socio-economic mass actions. This may be because Nigerians hardly join them to make mass actions as effective as they should be. The partnership between Labour and the people which flourished during the Comrade Adams Oshiomhole regime as President of the NLC appears to have fizzled out, for now.

In the recent nationwide protests, Organised Labour merely issued solidarity messages to the organisers and participants. It was a big surprise when security agents later identified as men of the Nigeria Police Force, NPF, stormed the Pascal Bafyau Labour House in the Central Business District, Abuja.

They reportedly forced the security personnel on duty to open the offices in the 10-floor complex, ransacked offices and took away things of interest they could lay their hands on.

Police spokesman, Muyiwa Adejobi, later issued a statement admitting that the invaders who wore hoods were from the Police. He also claimed that they were after some unnamed “foreign nationals” in connection with some criminal activities. The use of Russian flags by rioting protesters in the North, and the subsequent arrest of some foreigners appeared to point to the possibility of foreign meddling in the 10-day mass actions

As a result of the security incursion into Labour House, the NLC has temporarily ceased all official activities in the building until the safety of its officials, staff and visitors can be assured.

We join Labour and other well-meaning Nigerians to condemn the manner in which the raid was conducted. It is likely that the raid was meant to harass and intimidate Organised Labour, despite not being directly involved in the protests.

Barely 14 months into its tenure, the President Bola Tinubu government has already pushed the unions around more than at any other time since 1999. Apart from trying to use the National Industrial Court, NIC, to shackle their rights to strike in order to achieve their demands, the NLC President, Comrade Joe Ajaero, was physically battered during a legitimate mass action in Owerri.

But for the surprising pleasant breakthrough that resulted in the agreement on N70,000 as the new National Minimum Wage, the Federal Government already seemed prepared to break Organised Labour, incarcerate its leadership and appoint interim officers to man their secretariats. This threat is still lurking.

President Tinubu always prides himself as a democrat, given his track record as an agitator against dictatorship during the military era. He should justify this claim through personal example as president. (Vanguard Editorial)

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