Laolu Akande was a Senior Special Assistant on Media and Publicity to former Vice President Yemi Osinbajo. In this interview with ADEBAYO FOLORUNSHO-FRANCIS, the former spokesperson bares his mind on the assault on the Nigeria Labour Congress President, Joe Ajaero; the retaliatory strike by the organised Labour and his disappointment over the manner their grievance was handled by the Federal Government
What is your thought on the NLC strike?
I want to describe it in three ways. First and foremost, I want to say the treatment meted out to the NLC president, Joe Ajaero, is condemnable. No one should be a victim of that kind of assault. It is criminal. It is good that the Inspector General of Police, Kayode Egbetokun, has said that this will be investigated properly. We hope that once the investigation is concluded, there will be consequences. I mean you can’t just go about beating up people whether it is a setup or not. The man was beaten up and we saw it clearly.
Secondly, the decision by the NLC to punish the entire country, which is what it is, because of what happened in Imo State is a bit of a stretch on the part of the movement. Whatever it is they plan to do about it, they should have limited it to where the incident happened. I understand the part that they were aggrieved. At the same time, I feel whatever action they want to do should have been limited to Imo.
It is not appropriate to subject the entire country to this kind of nationwide strike. We are in a dire strait at the moment, with crises all over the country and it is evident that the common man is going to be the victim of a strike like this.
So what is the third assessment?
My third point is that the response from the Federal Government has to be very swift and I imagine that the President himself needs to get on the board. I think they gave a week’s notice for the people in government managing labour affairs to have interacted with them. But based on what the organised Labour is saying, obviously no one did. You don’t run a democratic government that way. I don’t know if it is true. Somebody was saying yesterday (Tuesday) that the labour minister was in Geneva and just came back. But there are two ministers for God’s sake. How will you explain the fact they have not heard from them? The only minister who is acting and talking is the attorney-general, who is calling attention to the existing court injunction. Of course, last night we had a statement from Mr Onanuga. So where are the labour ministers?
The conclusion is that the President needs to take the bull by the horns. Mr President has told us several times that the buck stops on his table. He needs to deal with the situation. And this is not a big problem for him at all. I spent eight years at the Villa and I am telling you that just one call from him and those guys will show up. Both the President and the Labour leadership ought to consider the bigger interest of the country, especially when all hands ought to be on the deck to take us out of the problem we are having at the moment.
We observed a partial compliance to the strike in the last two days. Can we conclude the industrial action didn’t have any serious impact or Nigerians are too frustrated to partake in it?
I think it is best to wait and see how it pans out. What we have witnessed so far is just day one and day two. It is hard to make any judgment based on reaction for now. We have to wait to see what will happen.
Governor Hope Uzodimma and several critics of the NLC president had accused him of attempting to meddle in Imo State politics before his assault. Do you share the same sentiment?
When something like this happens, you are going to have several spins at work. The labour has its own spin and the Imo State governor has its own. Honestly, that is neither here nor there. When the Imo governor also came out to explain that he wasn’t intimidated that Ajaero, who is also from the state, was coming, it just confirmed my view that it is an Imo State affair and it is best to be resolved there.
I understand that there was an agreement that Labour people want activated. I have not looked at the details though. It is essentially a local matter. But to be honest with ourselves, I think Ajaero is a patriot. I know him personally. I am not saying whatever they are saying about him meddling in Imo politics is true or not. We have not heard his side of the story. There is no point in trying to call a dog a bad name.
Again, Ajaero has been accused innumerable times of fraternizing with the leadership and chieftains of Labour Party. Are leaders of a labour movement expected to be partisan or show affiliation to any political platform?
I think we have to look at the relationship between Labour Party and the Nigeria Labour Congress. Of course, there is a relation even though I don’t know the details of it or how the party was structured. But I agree it is best for the leadership of the NLC to be non-partisan. It might reduce their credibility if the people know that they are in bed with a political party. Then you become a partisan voice. But the movement is better served by a credible independent voice.
Having served at the State House for eight years, what lasting solution can you proffer as a way to resolve recurring strikes in Nigeria?
As I mentioned earlier, we Nigerians (the masses, people in the private sector, and the government) will have to find a better way to create awareness that in democracy, power belongs to the people. This is where I challenge the elite. As a matter of fact, I don’t think only the political elite can sort it out. There are other elites to consider such as religious, academic, and others. There must be an irreducible stage to acknowledge the position, place, and power of the people. As long as politicians don’t get that signal, they will do everything to get away with it and keep on doing it. But if the politicians and elected officials understand that the people will not accept it, they will be forced to amend their ways.
We cannot continue to expect the changes from people in government who are benefitting from the dysfunction we want to change. People have to speak up. There are educated people, informed leaders of thought, and those who are not partisans. The big pastors, imams, and retired elder statesmen who are no longer in service must speak up on the irreducible minimum of performance of accountability and transparency. That is how I think we can stop strikes in this country.
Look at this particular instance where, according to Labour, they didn’t get any response from the Federal Government. That is because they know they can get away with it. That is why I said it must start with the people who should rise up and say we will no longer accept this. As I said before, powers belong to the people. This is not a military regime. We also have a president who is a true democrat, whether we like him or not. It is about time Nigerian people organised themselves and demanded what truly belonged to them.
The Lamidi Apapa faction of the Labour Party on Tuesday called on the Federal Government to unbundle the NLC and the TUC and create an additional three unions to checkmate their excesses. Do you share sentiment?
I hope you remember that the TUC used to be part of the NLC before. So all these kinds of ideas won’t address the core issue. Whether we divide it or not, the suffering or impact will be the same. We should not try to bifurcate. If they want to bifurcate themselves, it is fine. Some university lecturers said we did not want to be part of ASUU and went to form CONUA (Congress of Nigerian University Academics). That is fine. But I don’t think it is the government’s business to try to shut people up. I don’t think it is right.
