Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) says the threat by Kaduna State Government to set up a Judicial Commission of Inquiry into recent industrial action by civil servants is nothing but a puerile.
The President of the NLC, Comrade Ayuba Wabba in a statement, Tuesday said the threat is also outrageous and provocative.
“There is no place in our laws for the intervention of a Judicial Panel of Inquiry into a strictly industrial relations matter.
“This novel descent into the lower crevices of authoritarianism, despotism and tyranny exposes the true colours of the Governor of Kaduna State – Mr. Nasir El-Rufai as an anti-democrat” the statement emphasised.
The statement explained that the mandate to protest and protect the interest of Nigerian workers as enshrined in Nigeria’s Constitution and Labour Laws would be robustly deployed again by Congress in Kaduna State.
This time, the statement warned, will be total and in defence and protection of the rights of Nigerian workers and pensioners, whom El-Rufai relentlessly seeks to convert to his foot carpet.
It reminds El-Rufai that a Judicial Panel of Inquiry has no jurisdiction in Nigeria’s labour jurisprudence, neither does it have any space of operation under Nigeria’s democracy.
Two weeks ago, while featuring in a media chat with local Hausa radio stations in Kaduna, Governor Nasir El-Rufai of Kaduna state said he would set up a Commission of Inquiry to Investigate the last warning strike by NLC in the state, saying all the reasons stated by NLC for the strike were false, insisting that his administration did not sack workers.
“The NLC said were protesting against the sacking of workers, but we didn’t sack workers. All the reasons they gave for their strike were false. Some of them said we sacked 4000 workers, some even said we sacked 70,000. Our total work force is 32,000.
“There are 38,000 school teachers and they are not our staff, they are local government staff.
According to him, “They broke our laws; they broke the laws guiding protest.
“If there is a problem between employees and employers, there are procedures prescribed by law to be followed before embarking on strike. Strike is the last resort after following laid down rules.
The governor cited a case of Nigerian workers who switched off electricity supply during the military administration of Gen. Ibrahim Babangida (rtd), saying they were jailed for about 20 years.
“Since that time, nobody had switched off electricity in Nigeria, until they came and did it in Kaduna.
“This is a violation of the law, those who did it were supposed to be arrested and prosecuted, but the federal government kept silence.
“I swear we will pursue them, because they violated the laws of the land, if Abuja (federal government), will not prosecute them, the Kaduna state government will prosecute them….
“Very soon, the Kaduna state government will set up a Commission of Inquiry to investigate the role played by everybody during the protest.
“There is no law that says you should stop somebody who wants to go to work.
“I swear, let them come back! Let them come back and see. Since it is the police that is providing cover for them to go and lock people’s places of work and break the law.
“We will not allow the people of Kaduna to be subjected to that again, we can protect ourselves.
“If people that are being paid to protect the people of Kaduna failed, I swear the Kaduna state government will protect its citizens.
“Let them come back and see, we are prepared for them.
“We will investigate, those who helped them in carrying out the protest and subjected our people to hardship, they will be prosecuted.
“Whether they are Kaduna state civil servants or federal civil servants, they will face wrath of Kaduna state laws. We will prosecute them.
“When the commission of inquiry finished its assignment and we get the names of all those involved and their roles, we will prosecute them.
“Let NLC go and collect money again and come to Kaduna, I swear, we are waiting for them…We know those who paid them and we are waiting for them,” he said.