DSS Arrests NLC President Joe Ajaero at Abuja Airport

The Department of State Services (DSS) has arrested Joe Ajaero, the President of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC).

Ajaero was apprehended this morning, at Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja, as he was preparing to depart for the United Kingdom to attend the Trade Union Congress (TUC) conference in London.

His arrest has raised concerns, especially in the context of ongoing tensions between the federal government and labor unions regarding economic issues, such as the recent fuel price hikes. 

Ajaero’s role as a prominent labor leader makes this important, as the NLC has been at the forefront of protests and demands for better economic conditions for Nigerian workers. To Nigeria’s labour movement this always means 100% opposition to economic reforms. 

The details on the precise reasons for his arrest remain scanty, but the incident is expected to intensify the already strained relationship between the labor unions and the government.

Background To the Arrest

Security services have been keeping a close eye on Ajaero lately. After receiving a notice from the police on August 19, he responded to a summons from the Nigerian Police Force’s Intelligence Response Team (IRT) on August 20.

According to the summons, there were claims of cybercrime, treasonable felonies, criminal conspiracy, and financing of terrorism.

Although Ajaero first used human rights attorney Femi Falana (SAN) to explain why he could not make the August 20 date with the police, Falana and other attorneys showed up at Force Headquarters on August 29 to discuss the charges against Joe Ajaero.

The police summoned Ajaero and NLC General Secretary Emma Ugboaja to appear on September 5 just one day after their previous appearance. The allegations in this second summons included criminal intimidation, actions likely to disturb the peace, and intentional destruction of property.

Counterproductive Tactics

If the Government’s intention is to use the security forces to intimidate Joe Ajaero and create political space for itself to eradicate the fuel subsidy, this strategy may be counterproductive. It may actually end up increasing public opposition to the government’s economic reforms and making the government more unpopular and hence strengthening Joe Ajaero and the labour movement.

It was announced within one hour of the news of Ajaero’s arrest that the Department of State Services (DSS) raided the offices of the Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP) a prominent non-governmental organization that is at the vanguard of the resistance to economic reforms.

Historically, repression or “security crackdowns” on labour and civil society organisations have always been counterproductive, boosting public sympathy for their bizarre and demagogic economic arguments. The Tinubu government’s “packaging” and communications of the downstream oil sector reforms and the issue of removing the fuel subsidy has been spectacularly incompetent.    It is unclear how harassing unions and civil rights movements would make the argument for reform clearer to the public.

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