The Presidency has urged Nigerians to beware of people smarting from the suspended labour strike for selfish reasons, especially to avenge the 2012 Occupy Nigeria protests.
The Nigerian Labour Congress (NLC) and the Trade Union Congress (TUC) had suspended the planned nationwide strike and protest that was to commence on Monday, September 28, 2020, over the recent hike in electricity tariff and petrol pump price.
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A presidential spokesman, Femi Adesina, in a statement issued on Sunday, said those sponsoring and encouraging “discord and anarchy, either for selfish ends, or as revenge for perceived injuries” were enemies of the country.
Adesina implored Nigerians to beware of them as the Muhammadu Buhari government was only interested in engendering better quality of life for the citizenry.
He commended organised labour for putting the country first, saying “The times in which we live-with severe security, economic and social challenges-call for all hands to be on deck, and goodwill and support for government, as it strives to put the nation on an even keel.”
Adesina said: “Since Organised Labour toed the path of sense and sensibility last week, seeing reason with the imperatives of fuel price adjustment, and opening a further window of dialogue on the service based electricity tariff, some groups of Nigerians have been dolorous, disgruntled, and disconsolate.
“They had apparently perfected plans to use the strike by the labour unions as smokescreen to unleash anarchy on the land, fomenting mayhem and civil disobedience. But the plan blew up in their faces, and they have been in severe pains since then.
They have launched series of tirades against organised labour.
“For some interest groups, their intention was to use the umbrella of the strike to further their whimsical and pie-in-the-sky dream of a revolution in the country. It went bust in their faces.
“For some others, Bitter-Enders, who have remained entrenched in pre-2015 and 2019 elections mode, it was opportunity to avenge the 2012 Occupy Nigeria protests, which they believe largely devalued the government of the day, and led to its eventual ouster in 2015.
“The strike that was to have come up last week, they wanted to use as opportunity for a pound of flesh, which they calculated would weaken the government so much, and influence the 2023 elections.
For them, it was all about hanker for power, its trappings and appurtenances. Nothing about love of country. They have since then been calling organised labour all sorts of names, claiming they deceived Nigerians.”
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