Naija News

Millions of Nigerians were heartbroken today as organised labour abandoned them midway into the battle to get government to restore petrol subsidy

Exactly fifteen minutes after Femi Kuti finished addressing the crowd that had converged inside the dimly lit Afrika Shrine, telling them that “we must settle at sixty-five naira or nothing,” news that the week-old industrial action had been suspended filtered in. The Labour union had settled for the new price of N97 per litre of fuel.

“It is so sudden and so surprising to every Nigerian. We believed that this president and this regime will pay everybody,” said a dejected Toyin Salami.

“Now if you are saying N97, won’t they increase your salary? Very presently now, pure water is N10,” he added.

Labour and Civil Society groups across the country had embarked on an industrial action in protest of the more than 100 percent increase in the pump price of petrol by the federal government.

After five days of intensive mass action which effectively brought economic activities in Lagos, Nigeria’s commercial capital, to a standstill; the weekend was set aside by the Labour union for rest and for citizens to prepare “for a mother of all strikes” on Monday.

Military takes over

At about 1 a.m., Monday, armed military and police officers had taken over strategic locations in Lagos, especially venues of the mass actions. By the break of dawn, the city was swarming with scores of armed security officers  –  the army, the navy, and the police.

At the Gani Fawehinmi Park, Ojota, which witnessed an estimated over one million protesters last Friday, the makeshift podium, where various speakers stood and charged the crowd the previous week, was still standing, but the crowd had been barred. Armed army officers effectively cordoned off the park and the roads leading to the ground.

Darlington Ajitemi, who was leading some of the protesters, said he was “embarrassed, arrested, molested” by the soldiers at Ojota.

“Those boys (the protesters) that you saw today, I want to assure you that not even one of them threw a stone or broke a stick on the road,” said Mr. Ajitemi, who eventually led the protesters to Fela’s Afrika Shrine.

“I led them to this place, I’m one of the leaders that led them down here. How can soldiers come and threaten to shoot? A soldier brought out a gun and faced us with the gun, this morning. And I told them they have no right, let them carry me,” said Mr. Ajitemi.

The Surulere ground suffered a similar fate as over a dozen armed army and police officers occupied the Under the Bridge venue of the rally at the National Stadium.

Though the army officers at the venue hinted to the rally organizers that they could continue with their protest, albeit, peacefully, the crowd was chased away by armed police officers.

The protesters regrouped at Shitta Roundabout, about hundred metres from their original venue but news of the suspension of the industrial action unsettled everyone.

Unhappy Civil Society

The Joint Action Front (JAF) - the pro-labour civil society partner of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) and Trade Union Congress (TUC) was leading a mass protest to Ojota, despite the heavy presence of security officials, when news of the suspension of the strike filtered in.

In a press statement released on Monday evening, the group condemned and dissociated itself from the actions of the NLC AND TUC.

“We strongly deplore the suspension of the Strike/Mass Action as endorsed by Presidents of NLC and TUC as a betrayal of this legitimate demand by Nigerians that fuel price must revert to N65 as a condition for negotiation,” said the statement signed by Abiodun Aremu, JAF’s secretary.

Olusegun Olaoye, who was outside the Afrika Shrine, when the news broke said he was “devastated” by Labour’s decision to agree to a N97.

“They have forgotten that everybody needs to buy fuel to power his generator,” said Mr. Olaoye.

“For the past four days now I have to remain on the street because I can’t move, there is no way.

“And for crying out loud, where is the job? I don’t have a job in the first place. Since nine years ago that I left secondary school, I have to tell you, there is no way I can move to the university,” he said.