On Thursday, the nation’s opposition parties condemned the security agents’ raid on the Nigeria Labour Congress national office in Abuja on Wednesday.
According to The PUNCH, various documents were taken by the armed men who broke into the NLC headquarters, claiming to be from the DSS.
The congress claims that at approximately 8:30 p.m., operatives carried out the raid, breaking inside the Labour House.
According to Benson Upah, Head of Media and Public Relations at NLC, the intruders looted the second-floor bookshop and took hundreds of books and other publications.
“The invading team claimed that they were searching for seditious materials allegedly used during the #EndBadGovernance protests,” Upah stated.
However, Peter Afunanya, a DSS spokesman, refuted the claim, he told The PUNCH, “Please, kindly note that the Service (DSS) did not carry out any operation at the NLC office in Abuja.”
In separate interviews with The PUNCH, opposition parties condemned action, but the ruling All Progressives Congress urged caution, claiming it was premature to draw conclusions and begin slandering people.
Ibrahim Abdullahi, the PDP’s deputy national publicity secretary, described the action as an effort to stifle the labour union.
He said, “What happened yesterday is condemnable. As a party, we do not subscribe to that approach. Security agencies shouldn’t be deployed to go to institutions of the state, like the labour office, to ransack them and then suspect or blackmail them into sponsoring what you call a protest. Nigerians are entitled to their rights. Nigerians can see through them and through the government, and they have decided that they will go on the street.
“It is condemnable. As a party, we do not support it, and we see it as a further attempt to coerce the citizens and get them into silence. That is just the attempt or the decision of the APC.”
Yunusa Tanko, the head of the Labour Party’s presidential campaign, likewise denounced the action.
Tanko aired his opinion saying, “The action of the security agencies is totally condemnable. No one needs to come into the NLC office in a commando style. These are people who are accessible to you. At any point in time, you can easily walk into the NLC office and issue them a warrant and say you suspect something is going on and you want to charge them if you find anything incriminating. So what is all this showmanship of barging into the NLC office unannounced and saying you are investigating some documents? These are respected union leaders, not criminals.”
The National Publicity Secretary of the New Nigeria People’s Party, Ladipo Johnson, also condemned the invasion, saying, “One begins to wonder whether they are going back to the military days, One starts to question their willingness to put up with reasonable objections or criticism, which is a democratic trait, by the way.
“Based on his address, it appears that the President believes the public is not understanding. He hasn’t said that he will re-examine some of his key initiatives that many feel are responsible for the current state of the economy.”
Additionally, in a statement he personally signed on Thursday, human rights attorney Femi Falana (SAN) called the invasion a “shameful reminder” of the era of military rule.
“For genuine democrats, it’s utterly regrettable that official actions in a democratic dispensation could be reminiscent of the atrocities that defined the dark days of military dictatorship.
“It is incontestable that it is illegal for security forces to invade the homes and offices of law-abiding citizens and corporate bodies under a democratic dispensation,” Falana said.
Additionally, Ibuchukwu Ezike, the Executive Director of the Civil Liberties Organisation, called the invasion “an egregious abuse of democratic principles” in a statement.
“We demand that the police return carted NLC property without delay and tender an apology to them for this flagrant and heinous act,” the CLO said.
The ruling All Progressive Party (APC), however, urged composure, claiming it was too soon to assign responsibility for the purported invasion.
Bala Ibrahim, the party’s national publicity director, stated in an exclusive phone conversation that the phenomenon can have multiple directions and that one thing might lead to another. “You cannot just assume something is incorrect and declare it such before you have the opportunity to learn from those conducting the investigation what led them to take that particular step.
“You don’t know from the angle they are coming. It might be some information given to them and, in their course of investigation and in an attempt to leave no stone unturned, they will invade premises, with a view to getting clues. One thing about crime is that no matter how smart you are, you always must leave behind something that will give clue to it. So that is the ugly side of crime.
“I think for now, it will be too early to jump to a conclusion and say action A or action B is wrong. It has to be after the investigators have been debriefed and got information with regard to what led to their action. Let’s not begin to paint political pictures, based on emotions and sentiments. We will be one-sided and wrong.”
