Former Edo State Commissioner for Information, Kassim Afegbua, says the planned nationwide strike by the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) is politically motivated.

Afegbua accused the NLC President, Joe Ajaero, of working for the presidential candidate of the Labour Party (LP) in the 2023 election, Peter Obi.

He added Ajaero threatened the nationwide strike to create the wrong impression that Nigerians are not happy with the new government.

The former commissioner said this via a statement issued on Sunday, June 4.

Afegbua said: “The planned NLC strike reportedly slated for Wednesday 7 June is politically motivated; because the Ajaero-led NLC has become a partisan Congress, doing the bidding of Peter Obi, its presidential candidate.

“We all know that Joe Ajaero, the Nigeria Labour Congress president campaigned vigorously for Peter Obi, who also declared during his campaigns that subsidy was an ‘organised crime’ that would not stay a day longer, if he became president.

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“Why then is the NLC now pretending as if the removal of subsidy is not a welcome development? All the frontline candidates during the last February Presidential election: Atiku, Obi, Kwankwaso, and Tinubu promised the removal of subsidy from day one. They all campaigned with it to woo voters. Why are Ajaero, Obi and Atiku suddenly behaving like the ostrich, appearing unaware of the evil of sustaining subsidy?

“Ajaero is poised to playing politics with the lives of workers and Nigerians. He has become partisan and lacks the moral rectitude to appear as though he’s fighting for the average worker.

“The government has started consultations to find the best cushioning initiatives and palliatives to mitigate the temporary pains associated with the subsidy removal. We all agreed that subsidy has become the hotbed of corruption in the country.

“Oil marketers are not only fraudulent, they have become dangerous economic predators that are breathing down our throats for too long.

“What the new administration of President Tinubu has done, was to uproot the issue from day one, to allow the opportunity for robust engagement on how best to provide cushioning initiatives.

“If he allowed subsidy a day longer, the desire to remove it would be hijacked by those economic predators who are ready to go to any length to thwart the process.

“We must collectively join hands together to halt the hurt of subsidy and save the country from wholesale corruption that has held us down for long.”

He stated that with the removal of subsidy, further attempts would be made to fix refineries in the country, while also generating ideas to apply palliative measures to cushion the hardship.

Afegbua, therefore, enjoined Nigerians to appreciate the intention of the government to tackle “this drain pipe in the nick of time, rather than dancing to the political tunes of Mr. Joe Ajaero.”

The Star