The Nigerian Labour Congress (NLC) has disputed allegations by the Department of State Services that it’s President Joe Ajaero refused to honour the agency’s invitation.
NLC spokesperson, Benson Upah, made the denial in a statement on Wednesday night in Abuja, where he said Ajaero was a law abiding citizen as such would not snub the DSS invitation.
Upah said “it was not in his character of Ajaero to disregard invitations and precedents (his honouring the police invitation) attest to this.”
The statement said ‘We would like to set the records straight as follows: In the days preceding his arrest, Congress President had had a discussion with the DG DSS on a courtesy visit. A Director in the agency later called the General Secretary of the Congress on the need to fix a date for the courtesy visit.
“The General Secretary however explained to him that he would not be available until Friday (September 13). The said Director assured him they would give Congress leadership a notice of not less than 48 hours for the visit.
The DG DSS last spoke with Comrade Ajaero on Saturday night during which Ajaero told him he would be travelling the next day, Sunday, adding that the courtesy visit would be paid after his return on Friday, September 13.
“The Congress President however missed his flight on Sunday and had it rescheduled to Monday, September 9th.
“It was on that Monday morning he was picked up by the operatives of the DSS in a watch list operation on behalf of a sister agency.”
The NLC said Ajaero as a law-abiding citizen heading the biggest pan-Nigerian organisation with an illustrious history of patriotism and will certainly not snub the DSS.
“He is a trade unionist of international repute who serves on the executive boards of world federations of trade unions. His constituency goes beyond Nigeria,” the statement concluded.
