Northern youths under the umbrella of Arewa Youth Assembly (AYA) have alleged plans by the leadership of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) to scuttle the inauguration of the president-elect, Bola Tinubu, on May 29
Spokesperson of AYA, Ali Muhammad, also accused the union of working with some groups to actualise the ulterior motive.
Ajaero had in his May Day speech hit hard on Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) accusing it of flawed general elections.
Speaking at a press conference at Arewa House in Kaduna, yesterday, AYA chieftain said: “We have taken our stand to always add our voice on burning issues of national interest and we can’t allow anyone to use his personal interest to cause havoc in our nation. Notable security agencies have been petitioned to effect the immediate arrest of the President of Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), Joe Ajaero, over his alleged plot to scuttle the inauguration of President-elect, Tinubu. It was further alleged that Ajaero is working with the outlawed Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), to actualise the presidential bid of Mr Peter Obi of Labour Patty and not Tinubu who was declared winner of the election.
“Arewa Youth Assembly also accused Ajaero of using the Nigeria Labour Congress as a platform to achieve his Biafra agenda. We also accuse him of corruption, alleging that himself and his secretary general received one bullet proof SUV car each worth N1billion to sabotage the planned workers strike against the cashless policy of the apex bank. We regretted that this is the first time in the history of NLC that two people from one ethnic group are occupying the office of President (Joe Ajaero from Imo State and Secretary General, Emmanuel Ugboaja from Abia) at the same time, hence it is easy for them to prosecute the Biafra agenda.
“In a petition, we have drawn the attention of the security agencies to open threats by Ajaero to scuttle the inauguration of President-elect, Tinubu. Another important issue is, apart from threatening the judges handling the election petition tribunal, Ajaero has gone ahead to sabotage institutions of state in the name of strikes. Ajaero showed his ethnic card by inviting Peter Obi to the last May Day celebration in Abuja without extending same to the leadership of other political parties and even the president of the Federal Republic of Nigeria who is the number one labourer of the nation. We regretted that Ajaero is using the Igbo dominated NLC to sabotage the economy of the country in the guise of strikes. The disruption of flights to Imo State on Wednesday where an airline reportedly lost N700m is only a rehearsal of what Ajaero and IPOB plan to do to Nigeria”s economy ahead of Tinubu’s inauguration. The invasion of Lagos and Imo airports by IPOB fundamentalists masquerading as NLC is only but the beginning of what Ajaero is hatching to stop Tinubu from taking oath of office on May 29. He has assumed the position of the judges in the case and that is a dangerous precedent. We therefore called on security agencies to immediately arrest Ajaero and his Co-conspirators before the plunge the nation to avoidable national crisis.”
But NLC General Secretary, Emmanuel Ugboaja, has dismissed the allegations as empty rantings.
He said: “Is Arewa Youth Assembly the people that voted Tinubu? We can’t be discussing Nigeria and we will be discussing roadside names. That is completely the rantings of deranged politicians that do not have the confidence to state their discomfort in the open.
“The NLC is a pan-Nigerian organisation. We will not be responding to a regional ranting from people that do not have the confidence to speak out. “How will the NLC interfere with swearing in? There are thing that when people say them, you know that those are clowns. The NLC does not produce the chief judge that will swear the man in. The NLC didn’t appoint tribunals. The NLC is not an election petition tribunal. So how do we interfere with the swearing in? Are we the ones to produce the ink that the man will use in signing? “Those are people that their shadows are hurting. The truth of the matter is Nigeria must learn to follow due process. People must not be in a hurry to stampede anybody in any direction so that you don’t start fooling yourself with talks of stopping and not stopping.
“Once you have certainty of a process, then you have confidence. Once you make a process uncertain, once you feel you can always with impunity tamper with process, that is when you keep looking over your shoulders to verify whether any other person has your type of criminal confidence to do the wrong thing. NLC is not about wrong stuff.”
