A Pre
ss Release
The attention of the leadership of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) has been drawn to a fictitious publication by the Punch and Sun Newspapers of 18th THE NIGERIA LABOUR CONGRESS REFUTES THE MALICIOUS ALLEGATION BY PUNCH AND SUN NEWSPAPERS ON A FICTITIOUS ATTACK ON CIVIL SERVANTS OVER N1BN HOUSING PROJECT
It is unfortunate that miscreants posing as workers’ representatives decided to spin a false narrative and present same to the public as true. The truth is that the headquarters of the NLC on 18th January 2023 came under a heavy attack by hoodlums sponsored and led by one Mr. Emeka Anuna who poses as Chairman of the FGN/FCT/NLC/TUC Mass Housing Project Subscribers Association.
The President of the Nigeria Labour Congress was actually out of the office when he received a call that well-armed thugs and hoodlums had besieged the national headquarters of the NLC and were assaulting Congress staff and other workers in the premises. On getting to the office, he noticed that the mob had spilled over to the road adjourning the headquarters of the NLC. He decided to disembark from his vehicle to observe what was going on. It was at this point that he saw Mr. Emeka Anuna opening the trunk of his car and collecting placards and distributing money to some hoodlums who were beginning to disperse from the Labour House.
The President and some staff of the Congress then decided to accost Mr. Emeka Anuna to explain the reason for leading thugs to invade the Labour House. Our reason for engaging Mr. Emeka Anuna was because the NLC as an organisation that fights for the interest of workers and the masses believes in the sanctity of protest and would always be willing to engage any peaceful protest but not hoodlums.
The Nigeria Labour Congress is in possession of video clips of the attack against genuine workers and NLC Staff by hoodlums hired by Mr. Emeka Anuna who we know is not a worker as he has no known organisation that he can claim to work for or trade union that he can claim to belong to. We are shocked that such a character can claim to represent civil servants. The attack on the Labour House is not the first time that Mr. Anuna has resorted to self-help and criminal trespassing to achieve his selfish goals. He had on several occasions led thugs to besiege the office of the Honourable Minister of the FCT.
The FGN/FCT/NLC/TUC/ Mass Housing Project of 2014 is a project that is dear to the heart of NLC and TUC and which has elicited very proactive, progressive, and sustained actions by the leadership of the Congress led by Comrade Ayuba Wabba to ensure timely delivery of the project. After a series of letters and strong representations by the NLC to the Minister of the FCTA, the Honourable Minister obliged our demand to visit the project site and assess the state of work.
Following the visit of the Honourable Minister, Mallam Mohammed Bello and subsequent meetings between the NLC, TUC, the Subscribers Association, and the Project Developer – Good Homes Limited, the Permanent Secretary of the Federal Ministry of the Federal Capital Territory Administration (FCTA) was appointed to chair a resolution committee with the mandate to resolve all the issues pertaining to the project. This Committee has met a number of times and has made some progress towards addressing the encumbrances by the developer which has militated against the project. Unfortunately, Mr. Anuna and a few of his ilk have chosen to sabotage the resolution process by hiring thugs from time to time to attack the offices of the Honourable Minister and the NLC.
The attitude of Mr. Anuna and his co-travellers leaves us wondering where his interest lies – peaceful resolution of the issues militating against the execution of mass housing subscribed to by genuine workers or truncation of the remediation process. Clearly, there is a heavy scent of selfishness here. This becomes very obvious given the misrepresentation of the leadership of a Workers’ Subscribers Association by a character who is neither a worker nor a member of NLC nor TUC. We wonder who Mr. Emeka Anuna actually represents in this matter and what he stands to gain if the remediation efforts spearheaded by the Nigeria Labour Congress is scuttled.
Clearly, what transpired at the NLC premises and its environ was a case of deliberate act of terrorism organized by Mr. Emeka Anuna. As already stated, Congress President, Comrade Ayuba Wabba, upon his return to the Labour House following a distress call saw Mr. Emeka Anuna distributing money and collecting placards from thugs and hoodlums, as established by their appearance and carriage.
We have already responded to the attack by Mr. Emeka Anuna with a petition to the Nigeria Police Force, FCT Command. We have also asked the State Security Service to investigate the particulars of this case and to unearth the sponsors of this grand attack against workers especially genuine subscribers of the FGN/FCT/NLC/TUC Mass Housing Project and bring those frustrating the project to book.
It is unfortunate that the Punch and Sun Newspapers which have direct access to the President of the Nigeria Labour Congress could not even place a call across to Congress President to hear his own side of the story before going to town with such a false reportage.
The fact that the Punch Newspapers acknowledged in the same false report that they tried to reach an official of Good Homes to offer his perspective on the issue underlines the fact that the failure to contact the NLC President by the Punch Newspapers was not happenstance but a deliberate attempt by the grand sponsors of the fictitious story to embarrass the President of the Congress and to circumvent the efforts of the leadership of the Congress to pursue justice on behalf of genuine workers who were short-changed by the entrenched incongruities and wickedness in the Nigerian system.
Based on the foregoing, we call on the managements of the Punch and Sun Newspapers to retract the story captioned “NLC President fights civil servants over N1bn housing project” and “NLC President Fights Publicly with Civil Servants”, respectively, within seven days.
The attention of the leadership of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) has been drawn to a fictitious publication by the Punch and Sun Newspapers of 18th THE NIGERIA LABOUR CONGRESS REFUTES THE MALICIOUS ALLEGATION BY PUNCH AND SUN NEWSPAPERS ON A FICTITIOUS ATTACK ON CIVIL SERVANTS OVER N1BN HOUSING PROJECT
It is unfortunate that miscreants posing as workers’ representatives decided to spin a false narrative and present same to the public as true. The truth is that the headquarters of the NLC on 18th January 2023 came under a heavy attack by hoodlums sponsored and led by one Mr. Emeka Anuna who poses as Chairman of the FGN/FCT/NLC/TUC Mass Housing Project Subscribers Association.
The President of the Nigeria Labour Congress was actually out of the office when he received a call that well-armed thugs and hoodlums had besieged the national headquarters of the NLC and were assaulting Congress staff and other workers in the premises. On getting to the office, he noticed that the mob had spilled over to the road adjourning the headquarters of the NLC. He decided to disembark from his vehicle to observe what was going on. It was at this point that he saw Mr. Emeka Anuna opening the trunk of his car and collecting placards and distributing money to some hoodlums who were beginning to disperse from the Labour House.
The President and some staff of the Congress then decided to accost Mr. Emeka Anuna to explain the reason for leading thugs to invade the Labour House. Our reason for engaging Mr. Emeka Anuna was because the NLC as an organisation that fights for the interest of workers and the masses believes in the sanctity of protest and would always be willing to engage any peaceful protest but not hoodlums.
The Nigeria Labour Congress is in possession of video clips of the attack against genuine workers and NLC Staff by hoodlums hired by Mr. Emeka Anuna who we know is not a worker as he has no known organisation that he can claim to work for or trade union that he can claim to belong to. We are shocked that such a character can claim to represent civil servants. The attack on the Labour House is not the first time that Mr. Anuna has resorted to self-help and criminal trespassing to achieve his selfish goals. He had on several occasions led thugs to besiege the office of the Honourable Minister of the FCT.
The FGN/FCT/NLC/TUC/ Mass Housing Project of 2014 is a project that is dear to the heart of NLC and TUC and which has elicited very proactive, progressive, and sustained actions by the leadership of the Congress led by Comrade Ayuba Wabba to ensure timely delivery of the project. After a series of letters and strong representations by the NLC to the Minister of the FCTA, the Honourable Minister obliged our demand to visit the project site and assess the state of work.
Following the visit of the Honourable Minister, Mallam Mohammed Bello and subsequent meetings between the NLC, TUC, the Subscribers Association, and the Project Developer – Good Homes Limited, the Permanent Secretary of the Federal Ministry of the Federal Capital Territory Administration (FCTA) was appointed to chair a resolution committee with the mandate to resolve all the issues pertaining to the project. This Committee has met a number of times and has made some progress towards addressing the encumbrances by the developer which has militated against the project. Unfortunately, Mr. Anuna and a few of his ilk have chosen to sabotage the resolution process by hiring thugs from time to time to attack the offices of the Honourable Minister and the NLC.
The attitude of Mr. Anuna and his co-travellers leaves us wondering where his interest lies – peaceful resolution of the issues militating against the execution of mass housing subscribed to by genuine workers or truncation of the remediation process. Clearly, there is a heavy scent of selfishness here. This becomes very obvious given the misrepresentation of the leadership of a Workers’ Subscribers Association by a character who is neither a worker nor a member of NLC nor TUC. We wonder who Mr. Emeka Anuna actually represents in this matter and what he stands to gain if the remediation efforts spearheaded by the Nigeria Labour Congress is scuttled.
Clearly, what transpired at the NLC premises and its environ was a case of deliberate act of terrorism organized by Mr. Emeka Anuna. As already stated, Congress President, Comrade Ayuba Wabba, upon his return to the Labour House following a distress call saw Mr. Emeka Anuna distributing money and collecting placards from thugs and hoodlums, as established by their appearance and carriage.
We have already responded to the attack by Mr. Emeka Anuna with a petition to the Nigeria Police Force, FCT Command. We have also asked the State Security Service to investigate the particulars of this case and to unearth the sponsors of this grand attack against workers especially genuine subscribers of the FGN/FCT/NLC/TUC Mass Housing Project and bring those frustrating the project to book.
It is unfortunate that the Punch and Sun Newspapers which have direct access to the President of the Nigeria Labour Congress could not even place a call across to Congress President to hear his own side of the story before going to town with such a false reportage.
The fact that the Punch Newspapers acknowledged in the same false report that they tried to reach an official of Good Homes to offer his perspective on the issue underlines the fact that the failure to contact the NLC President by the Punch Newspapers was not happenstance but a deliberate attempt by the grand sponsors of the fictitious story to embarrass the President of the Congress and to circumvent the efforts of the leadership of the Congress to pursue justice on behalf of genuine workers who were short-changed by the entrenched incongruities and wickedness in the Nigerian system.
Based on the foregoing, we call on the managements of the Punch and Sun Newspapers to retract the story captioned “NLC President fights civil servants over N1bn housing project” and “NLC President Fights Publicly with Civil Servants”, respectively, within seven days.
Comrade Benson Upah
Head, Information and Public Affairs
Nigeria Labour Congress
19th January 2023