The President of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), Joe Ajaero, has been arrested in Owerri, the Imo State capital.
Ajaero was picked up from the NLC State Council Secretariat by heavily armed policemen in Owerri and taken to an unknown destination.
The Head of Media at the NLC Headquarters, Benson Uper, stated this via a WhatsApp message to Channels Television.
The NLC is leading a statewide protest and strike in Owerri over what it described as lack of respect for workers, unpaid salaries and pensions, amongst others.
According to our source, the labour leader was arrested at the secretariat of the NLC in Imo while he was about to lead an ‘Occupy Imo’ protest slated for today.
The source said the police arrested Ajaero giving reasons that the labour leader has disobeyed an existing court order by the National Industrial Court restraining the NLC and the Trades Union Congress (TUC) from carrying out any protest in the state.
When contacted, the police spokesperson in Imo, Henry Okoye, said he has no information on the arrest of the labour leader yet, saying that he will make the information available as soon as he gets a clear picture of the situation.
However, a police source said Ajaero is in protective custody.
The source said a fight broke out between members of the NLC from Abuja and some workers in Imo who are angry about the action of the NLC President.
The source said the police got wind of the incident and acted to protect the NLC President from any form of attack by taking him into protective custody.
Meanwhile, the NLC leadership in Imo has dissociated itself from the protest with reasons that the allegations by the NLC national leadership against the state government were untrue.
In a statement on Wednesday, NLC and TUC national leaderships in Abu7ha accused the Imo State Government of intimidation against trade unions in the state.
