President of the Nigeria Labour Congress, Joe Ajaero has declared that the union would not be intimidated following his appearance at the Intelligence Response Team headquarters in Abuja.
Ajaero, invited to address allegations including terrorism financing and cybercrime, spent about an hour at the IRT office.
Speaking afterwards, Ajaero dismissed the allegations as baseless, adding that such incidents are common for labour leaders.
“I want to thank everyone. I want to thank all comrades in the states who have been praying. Those that have been fasting since morning can now break their fast,” he said jocularly.
“The labour movement is worth dying for because of the patriotism and commitment. Labour movement is one of the biggest pan-Nigerian organisations.
“Our patriotism, from the days of colonial government to even the period of the military, is unshakeable.
“We have gone there and we are back. You can’t do this job we are doing without this type of matter. It’s expected. This is the hazard of the job.
He reaffirmed the NLC’s determination to press for minimum wage implementation and improve workers’ welfare.
“We are out to continue the struggle. We have gotten minimum wage but we have to press for its implementation as soon as possible.
“Every other thing that will make the welfare of Nigerian workers to be worthwhile, we’d be involved in it. We’d not listen to any distraction.
“I didn’t know that I was this loved.”
Maxwell Okpara, deputy lead counsel of the NLC president, said “there is no cause for alarm. What we heard was quite different from what was in the invitation letter”.
“Now that they have learnt their lessons and corrected themselves, we have taken it in that manner. The police said they just wanted to ask the NLC president one or two questions in respect to the tenant that is here,” Okpara added.
