President of the Nigerian Labour Congress (NLC), Joe Ajaero, has been released on bail by the Department of State Services (DSS).
He was released at about 11.10 last night, according to reports, way before the 12 midnight deadline given by the NLC for the government to release of its president, who was arrested at the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport on his way to London to attend the UK Trade Union Congress (TUC), apparently just to prevent him from travelling out.
“The congress will not stand idly by while the rights of its leaders and members are trampled upon. Accordingly, we demand for the immediate and unconditional release of Comrade Ajaero,” NLC spokesman Benson Upah had said in the statement giving the ultimatum.
Activist and former presidential candidate of the African Action Congress (AAC), Omoyele Sowore, announced Ajaero’s release in a tweet on his X handle very late on Monday night, September 9, thus:
“BREAKING: The fascist regime of @officialABAT has released the @NLCHeadquarters President Joe Ajaero from @OfficialDSSNG custody on bail.”
Ajaero was arrested on Monday by the DSS at the airport in Abuja while travelling to the UK for an official engagement.
No reason was given by the Nigerian secret police for the action, which sparked outrage, especially in labour and political circles, with the NLC giving midnight as deadline for his release and putting workers nationwide on alert for the commencement of industrial action if the deadline was not met.
The release of Ajaero may well have spared the nation another round of muscle-flexing and ripostes between Labour and government, and the industrial disharmony and the disruption of public peace that often come with such a face-off, but whether Labour will let “the mischief of arresting Ajaero in a free and democratic Nigeria just to prevent him from attending the TUC confernce in London, an NLC official duty, go just like that is another kettle of fish altogether,” as one Labour source put it.
