Leaders of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) have rejected the police’s account of the raid on Labour House, the NLC headquarters in Abuja, on Wednesday night, alleging that the police have not provided the full truth.
According to reports from allnews.ng, armed individuals raided Labour House in Abuja last week.
During an emergency National Executive Council (NEC) meeting held yesterday, NLC leaders called for a comprehensive explanation from the Federal Government about the police invasion.
In the virtual NEC meeting, Congress leaders emphasized that the government’s response would determine their subsequent actions, condemning the raid as extremely provocative.
Speaking to Sunday Vanguard after the meeting, a NEC member stated: “NEC members unanimously rejected the police’s justification for the raid. We believe the police are being economical with the truth. None of their explanations made sense; the more we analyzed it, the more questions emerged.”
“The police in their explanation, claimed they did not know that the building is NLC’s headquarters. Lie number one: The police headquarters is very close to the Labour House. On several occasions they have deployed their men to the Labour House during strikes, protests, rallies and so on.
“Lie number two: The police claimed they were looking for someone on the second floor of the Labour House. But they first came to the 10th floor where they abducted the NLC security guard. When they finished their illegal operations, they took the security guard to the second floor. What were the police looking for on the 10th floor?
“Lie number three: The bookshop at the second floor known as ‘Iva Valley Bookshop’ has been in the Labour House for years and the operator is a very known person even to the police because some policemen come there to buy books. Why is it now that the police realize that he is a criminal and dangerous to the state?
“Why will the police carry out their raid at such hour when most workers had gone home? These are some of the questions begging for answers.
“We are demanding full explanation and disclosure from government.
“The raid was very provocative. We will not act now, according to NEC resolutions, we will wait for the government to give full explanation. Our reaction will be based on government’s full explanation.
“So, we totally reject the police explanation and demand full explanations from government for the raid.”