Labour kicks as police bar varsity workers from protesting in Abuja

Labour kicks as police bar varsity workers from protesting in Abuja

The Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) has lampooned the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Police Command for forcefully dispersing a peaceful protest organised by members of the Non-Academic Staff Union of Educational and Associated Institutions (NASU) and the Senior Staff Association of Nigerian Universities (SSANU) in Abuja, yesterday.

The university workers under the platform of Joint Action Committee (JAC) had scheduled to hold a national protest to demonstrate their grievances over non-payment of their four months’ salaries.

But police operatives deployed from the FCT Command stopped the varsity workers from embarking on the protest and blocked access to the Unity Fountain venue, using an Armoured Personnel Carrier (APC) and vans.

Commissioner of Police in FCT, Benneth Igwe, who led the security team, told the union leaders that they were not allowed to use Abuja streets for their protest without giving any reason.

Reacting, the NLC, in a statement by its spokesperson, Benson Upah, condemned the actions of the Police, saying it violated fundamental rights guaranteed by Nigeria’s constitution and the international conventions on freedom of association and speech.

NLC demanded an immediate apology from the police for violating its members’ rights and warned of escalating industrial actions if their grievances continued to be ignored.

The statement read: “The FCT Police Command  Commissioner, Compol Bennett Igweh deservedly  earned our outrage and contempt by violently breaking up a peaceful protest at Unity Fountain on Thursday, July 18, 2024 by members of two of our affiliates, NASU and SSANU.

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“Compol Igweh, caused to be deployed to the venue of the protest, armoured tanks, assault dogs and police personnel in battle gear who broke up the peaceful protest using excessive force and other hostile means.

“The behaviour of the  police is an affront to the 1999 constitution (as amended), ILO Conventions 87 and 98 and African Charter on People and Human Rights  which guarantee freedom of association and speech; a violation of the Supreme Court ruling that citizens do not need the permit or approval of the police to  peacefully protest and an insult to the dignity of self-respecting and law-abiding  citizens.

“We need to let the powers that be, especially Compol Igweh and those who sent him that we are not in a Police State and if his intentions are to scare and intimidate workers protesting under the law, then they have picked on  wrong customers.

“We fought for this democracy and we will not fold our hands and allow intestinal-minded  people to destroy it. We are concerned that officers like Compol Igweh who should be inspiring  a new generation of officers away from the colonial traditions of policing are the ones leading the charge into the abyss.

“We want to assure him and his ilks that no one will bestow on him a medal for his unprofessional and disgusting behaviour.  However, in the event he finds himself as one of the beneficiaries of this  new bizarre bazaar of self-bemedalling, we say ahead of time that it is not a medal to wear with honour.

“Under Compol Igweh’s watch,  FCT has been  crawling with bandits, criminals and crooks (both in low and high places) even in the heart of the city. Life has never been this frightening for law-abiding citizens. Instead of training  the turrets of his armoured tanks on these social misfits, it is peaceful workers that are his victims.

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“Igweh does not need to go far for a refresher course on safe-guarding FCT. One of his predecessors who is now a DIG (who rid Abuja of crime and still related well with citizens) is only an ear-shot away at Louis Edet House.

“The reason for the  peaceful protest by NASU and SSANU  is very much in the public domain-non-payment  of their four-months withheld salaries after workers in other unions were paid for the same strike action.The two unions had exhausted all means lawful  over a long stretch of time including a warning strike as means for getting their salaries paid.

“But clearly, the government took their maturity and patience for granted. What the government failed to realise was that it was not only imperiling the tranquility in the university  education environment, it was acting in violation of the constitution which says no citizen should be discriminated against!

“If the government and the police are proud lawbreakers, what  moral justification do they have to expect others to be of good behaviour!

“In light of this, we demand an immediate police apology to NASU and SSANU members whom they violated.We also demand the immediate payment of the withheld salaries. We had had cause to write to the government as well as issued a press statement on this matter in the recent past.

“Government will be courting a major national industrial protest if it continues to ignore  our wise counsel.”

Labour kicks as police bar varsity workers from protesting in Abuja