Comrade Joe Ajaero, President of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), alleged on Friday that he was arrested in Owerri by the police and given over to waiting thugs who had completely beaten him.
He claimed that the attackers, numbering around seven, dragged him on the floor like an ordinary criminal.
The NLC president told journalists in Abuja that the NLC wrote to all security agencies before going to the state for the protest on November 1.
Workers who arrived at the protest site around 7 a.m. that day were beaten up by thugs and had their phones stolen, according to him.
Ajaero stated that he arrived about 9 a.m. after receiving a report of an assault on workers and that the police arrested him and turned him over to thugs.
Ajaero said, “I can’t explain the beating I received. They tied my hands and dragged me on the floor like a common criminal.”
The NLC President refuted the allegation by the Imo State government that he is a card-carrying member of the Labour Party.
“I am not a card-carrying member of any political party, as alleged,” he said.
