The 10-day “#EndBadGovernance” protests were carried out in different parts of the country from 1st to 10th August 2024. This action was triggered due to the suffering Nigerians are going through. Angry citizens took to the streets and many infrastructures were destroyed, properties were looted, arrests were made (both legal and illegal), and many lives were lost.
Shortly, just a few days before the end of the protest, on August 7, 2024, at about 8:30 pm, heavily armed men of “The Nigerian Police Force” and some preassumed men of the Department of State Services (DSS), raided the Nigerian Labour Congress’s complex in Abuja the Nigerian capital city. During the operation, the 2nd floor of the complex was thoroughly ransacked, many books and publications in the bookshop were taken away, and many other items that were not accounted for by NLC also went missing.
The next day, men sent by the Police were still visibly seen around the complex, carrying out the raiding order. However, the Union condemned the action taken by the NPF and demanded an immediate withdrawal of the armed security operatives from its National Headquarters in Abuja, stating that there was no legal search warrant shown to back up their actions.
Spokesman of the Force “Muyiwa Adejobi” said that the raid was authorized as soon as the Police suspected that a suspect had been harbored by the NLC on one of the floors of their building. He further mentioned that a floor, the 2nd in the complex, was the place of interest and so raiding was carried out. He said:
“We recovered evidence to prove that the suspect is a threat to the nation, the man is a suspected subversive element”
The question is, who is this suspect and what is the recovered evidence against this suspect?
On August 15th August 2024, the NLC had an international press at the Labour House, Abuja. The Head of Information, Benson Upah, briefed members of the press who were present that day. This press brief was carried out to give an update on the unauthorized raiding. Mr. Benson said the Union made several demands. They are:
- • The return of the books, publications, and other valuable items removed from the Complex.
• An immediate apology from the Police and Federal Government to Congress for the invasion and desecration of the Congress headquarters.
• Immediate and unconditional release of everybody detained in connection with the protests.
• The government to stop criminalizing lawful protests as well as put an end to the continued harassment of people who hold dissenting views to the government.
• The convening of a stakeholder’s conference to discuss pressing issues confronting Nigerians and the need to address the root cause of the unrest.
• Leadership accountability that ensures systematic issues of waste and mismanagement of funds and resources that exacerbate the sufferings of Nigerians are resolved.
• A promise to set up the necessary machinery to conduct a forensic audit of the NLC Complex to ascertain its safety for the continuous activities of its members.
A few days after this, The Nigerian Police Force Invited the president of NLC allegedly accusing him of being on the list of those who are on a mission to cause chaos and scatter the nation via the #EndBadGovernance protest.
Questionings and Release
The Congress president, Joe Ajaero, was released after honoring the invitation of the Nigerian Police Force on Thursday the 29th of August 2024. He was previously asked to report himself on August 20th after an allegation was placed on him. The allegation was “Terrorism Financing”. In the course of this invitation, the NLC said that they were prepared for the interview and ordered all its members across all the states of the federation to stick around all Police State Headquarters till the President is released. Meanwhile, the NLC lawyer, Femi Falana, begged the crowd not to protest at the headquarters where the questioning was being carried out.
Another lawyer in the team that accompanied Ajaero to the police headquarters, Maxwell Opara, explained to the crowd that as they got to the police station, the statement made by the force was different from the terrorism allegations placed on the NLC president. The statements written in the invitation letter were different. They (the Nigerian Police), on the arrival of the NLC legal team and their president, said they invited Ajaero as regards a tenant who is in the NLC Complex. Barrister Opara stated that the question had been answered and they were fully ready for any other tricky move of the Police Force.
