PRESIDENT of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), Comrade Joe Ajaero on Friday said that he was arrested in Owerri by the Police and was handed over to waiting thugs that got him thoroughly beaten.
He said that the thugs who were about seven in number dragged him on the floor like a common criminal.
Briefing journalists in Abuja, the NLC president said the NLC wrote to all the security agencies before they went to the state for the protest on November I.
According to him, workers who arrived at the venue of the protest on that day around 7 am were beaten up by thugs with their phones seized.
Ajaero said he got there around 9 am after he got the report of an assault on workers , adding that the police arrested him and handed him over to thugs.
He said: “I can’t explain the beating I received. They tied my hands and dragged me on the floor like a common criminal.”
The NLC President denied the allegation by the Imo State government that he is a card carrying member of the Labour Party.
“I am not a card-carrying member of any political party as alleged,” he said.
His account contradicted an earlier statement by the Imo State Police Command, which said the NLC President was taken into protective custody to save him from a mob attack.
The statement was issued on the official X handle of the Nigerian Police by Imo Police Public Relations Officer, ASP Okoye Henry.
It read, “The Imo State Police Command wishes to clarify some sketchy reports alleging the arrest of the President of the Nigeria Labour Congress, Comrade Joe Ajaero, in Owerri.
“It is pertinent to state that the NLC President was in Owerri as part of arrangements of the Congress to mobilise workers for a mega protest rally in the state. In the course of their planning, it was reported that suggestions arose for the lockdown of some essential facilities particularly the airport which led to some workers and other individuals resisting the picketing process leading to scuffles heated arguments, and an eventual attack on the person of the president by a mob.
“Upon receiving this report, the Imo Police Command swiftly deployed police operatives to the scene where the Officer in Charge exercised his operational discretion by taking the NLC President into protective custody at the State Command Headquarters to ensure the protection of his life and that he was not lynched in the scuffle that followed.”