BREAKING: NLC begins nationwide protest as Ajaero, Sowore, others storm Labour secretariat

Members of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) on Wednesday morning converged at the NLC Secretariat in Abuja ahead of a nationwide protest over the worsening insecurity in the country.

Reports by Channels Television indicate that key figures already at the venue include the NLC President, Joe Ajaero, alongside several civil society partners. Also present are Omoyele Sowore and members of the Revolution Now Movement.

Security presence has been heightened around the Secretariat, with personnel from the Nigeria Police Force, Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps, as well as operatives of the Department of State Services (DSS), deployed to the area.

Recall that the NLC leadership had met with President Bola Ahmed Tinubu on Tuesday night in Abuja in a last-minute effort to avert the planned nationwide protest.

The meeting, held at the State House, was led by Ajaero and attended by the Chairman of the APC Governors’ Forum and Governor of Imo State, Hope Uzodimma; Governor of Edo State, Monday Okpebholo; Governor of Kebbi State, Nasir Idris; and the Minister of State for Labour, Nkeiruka Onyejeocha.

Speaking to State House correspondents after the meeting, Ajaero declined to state categorically whether the protest would go on as scheduled.

He said: “If I’m insisting (on proceeding with the strike), I’m not insisting. I will communicate to you. It is not an organisation that one person rules. Let’s go back now. You have a meeting of labour and the governor’s forum. We’ll go back to the drawing board and digest all that Mr President said to us, and move forward from there.”