- Ajaero was picked up on Wednesday from the NLC State Council Secretariat by heavily armed policemen and taken to an unknown destination
- The Imo State Police Command denied arresting the labour leader
The presidential candidate of the Labour Party (LP) in the 2023 election, Peter Obi, has condemned the attack on the President of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), Joe Ajaero, in Owerri, the Imo state capital.
Ajaero was picked up on Wednesday from the NLC State Council Secretariat by heavily armed policemen and taken to an unknown destination.
The Imo State Police Command denied arresting the labour leader, while the NLC and the Trades Union Congress (TUC) threatened to call for an immediate nationwide strike following his arrest.
Obi, reacting to the incident on Thursday, said what happened to Comrade Ajaero has come as a rude shock to most Nigerians and that it says a lot about the state of affairs in Nigeria today.
“It shows the level of lawlessness, impunity, criminality, and rascality that have engulfed our dear country,” Obi posted on X (formerly Twitter).
“Things like this should worry any discerning mind because it runs counter to the type of country that we all desire and deserve.”
The former governor of Anambra state added that 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.
Meanwhile, a former presidential aide to Goodluck Jonathan, Reno Omokri, reacted directly to Obi’s post.
“Dear Peter Obi, You are rightly condemning someone being beaten. But what about the two brothers who were barbarically killed in Onitsha, where you live?,” Omokri asked.
“How can you condemn what is happening in Sokoto and be silent on what is happening in your shokoto? The Onitsha incident happened before this one.
“At least your ally, Joe Ajaero, is alive. Those brothers are dead. Burnt to death with tyres and petrol. Please speak up about it like you did when Deborah Samuel was killed.”