By Our Reporter
The Nigeria Labour Congress has described as false reports that its President, Joe Ajaero, was invited by the Department of State Services, but failed to show up before his arrest at the airport.
NLC, in the statement on Wednesday by its Head of Information and Public Affairs, Benson Upah, said: “Our attention has been drawn to a story (circulating in different media platforms) linked to ‘sources within the agency (DSS)’ that preceding his arrest, Comrade Joe Ajaero, President of the Nigeria Labour Congress, NLC, was invited by the DSS but that he did not honour the invitation.
Describing Ajaero as a law-abiding citizen who would not disregard DSS invitation, Upah, said that Ajaero had a discussion with the DG DSS on a courtesy visit and was assured of a 48-hour notice before the visit.
According to the statement, Ajaero informed the DG DSS of his travel plans and rescheduled the courtesy visit for September 13 upon his return.
The statement read: “We would like to set the records straight as follows: In the days preceding his arrest, the 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.
“We want to re-affirm that Joe Ajaero is 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 further states, “It is not in his character to disregard invitations and precedents attest to his regards for authorities.”
The NLC president was arrested and detained by the DSS at the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja, en route to London to attend a conference of the Trade Union Congress, TUC, of UK.
His arrest caused an outrage among Nigerians and Labour Unions in and outside the country as well as Human Rights activists who widely condemned the action.
Ajaero was subsequently released.