The Imo State Police Command, Wednesday, debunked reports that its operatives arrested the President of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), Comrade Joe Ajaero, in Owerri. According to the Command, the NLC President was taken away for protection following an attempt to lynch him.
There were unconfirmed reports on Wednesday that Ajaero, who was in Owerri to mobilize workers for “Occupy Imo protest, had been arrested by the police and taken to an unknown destination.
But the state Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO), Henry Okoye, an Assistant Superintendent of Police (ASP), described the report as false.
The PPRO said: ”It is pertinent to state that the NLC President was in Owerri as part of arrangements of the Congress to mobilize 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 and heated arguments and an eventual attack on the person of the president by a mob.
He clarified: “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.
“The Commissioner of Police thereafter directed that he should be taken to the Police Medical Services, Owerri, where he would be accorded medical attention as a result of the attack.
“He has therefore been accorded adequate security cover to proceed on his other legitimate engagements for the day.”
Okoye confirmed that there was an existing court injunction from the National Industrial Court of Nigeria holden in Owerri with Suit No. NICN/OW/41/2023 dated 27th October, 2023, barring the NLC from holding the intended protest rally in Owerri.