Joe Ajaero, the President of the Nigerian Labour Congress (NLC) has been admitted in Federal Medical Center, Owerri, after being brutalized by suspected thugs during a protest rally in Owerri, the Imo state capital, on Wednesday.
The NLC boss, according to the Head of Information and Publicity of the NLC, Benson Upah, would also undergo a brain scan and ophthalmic investigation, and a cervical spine therapy among other tests to be carried on him at FMC.
Ajaero was said to have been beaten by thugs suspected to be working for the Imo state government and was later arrested by the operatives of the Imo state police command. Although, the command had earlier said it never arrested the NLC President but merely rescued him from the angry mob that descended on him during the protest in Owerri, the NLC boss had maintained he was beaten blue and black by some Imo state police officers. Upah said, “Congress President, Comrade Joe Ajaero has been referred for ophthalmic investigation, a head/brain scan, a full body scan, and cervical spine therapy among other investigations, at the Federal Medical Center, Owerri. “He is presently on a neck collar support bandage at FMC where he is admitted.” But in an interview with some Imo based journalists, the brutalized NLC President said he was taken unawares as thugs who were said to have cordoned their congress office in Owerri, appeared from nowhere and descended on him while he was addressing Imo workers for a protest.
He said, “just as the rally was about to commence at the state council of the NLC, and I was addressing Imo workers, suddenly thugs came out from nowhere and attacked me, tore my clothes and inflicted body injuries on me alongside some union leaders. “After plumelling me, I was whisked away by the police and heavily armed hooded men to the Imo state police facility. My phones, money and other items were taken away from me and are yet to be returned to me. As I speak, my right eye is totally shut down and giving me serious pain. I’m in severe pains.” He further described the incident as an act of abduction which almost degenerated into murder. He added, “God must have taken extra time to create me and made me strong to have absorbed these blows and beating without fainting instantly. It was very terrible. “If government is claiming that there was an interim order stopping the NLC from embarking on strike or protest, it should also be noted that the order had elapsed with time and the government ought to have approached same court to issue a fresh order.”
