The National President of the Nigeria Labour Congress, Joe Ajaero has been arrested by the police in Owerri, the Imo State capital.
NLC spokesperson Benson Upah, who revealed this, added that Ajaero has been taken to an unknown location.
He said Ajaero was picked up from the NLC state council secretariat by heavily armed policemen in Owerri.
The NLC in the state had vowed to mobilise its members for a total show down from Wednesday.
On Sunday, Ajaero, at a press briefing, had accused the Imo State Government of “violating the rights of the Nigerian workers in the state.”
He said Governor Hope Uzodimma has been neglecting workers’ welfare, adding that many of them have died because of the alleged lack of payment of their salaries.
Ajaero accused Uzodimma, of alleged alleged refusal to implement previous agreements especially the accord reached on January 9, 2021, outstanding salary arrears of about 20 months, unjust declaration of workers as ghost workers, declaration of pensioners as ghost workers and unsettled gratuity arrears, among others.
The NLC president said approximately 10,000 pensioners have been wrongly labelled as ghost pensioners resulting in over 22 months of unpaid pensions while about 11,000 workers have been branded by the Imo State Government as ghost workers.
He also lamented the non-compliance with the national minimum wage by the state government, adding that Governor Uzodinma has resisted the use of social dialogue and collective bargaining to resolve the issues.
No words yet from the state government on this development as at the time of this report.
