Labour

Nigerian workers will not welcome military coup – NLC

Published

9 years ago

May 30, 2017

By ANDREW OJIEZEL

The organized labour under the aegis of Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) has cautioned military aganst any coup. And warned that Nigerian workers will not welcome any coup in the country.

The President, Comrade Ayuba Wabba, in his 2017 Democracy Day to the nation said “Normally we have over the years refrained from issuing statements to commemorate May 29, which former President Olusegun Obasanjo christened Democracy Day, marking the day the military handed over power to a democratically elected government in 1999. This is because at the beginning of May (MAY1) every year, we use the occasion of May Day to make wide ranging assessment of the State of the Nation and the expectations of Nigerian workers.

This year, we have decided to break from the tradition and address an issue which came to light recently.　 The Chief of Army Staff, Lt-General Tukur Burutai, recently told Nigerians that he had gotten “information that individuals have been approaching some officers and soldiers for undisclosed political reasons”.　

This thinly veiled statement has been decoded in plain language to mean that some politicians and non-military persons have been approaching military officers to organize a military coup to truncate the current democratic dispensation.

“The Nigeria Labour Congress wishes to state in the strongest possible tone that it is categorically opposed to any further military adventurism in the body politics of our nation.　

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The damage military incursion into Nigeria’s political　 arena　 did over the decades it imposed itself on the people is largely responsible for the underdevelopment of our political culture almost six decades after attaining political independence.

“The damage military rule caused our nation is not only in the realm of our political culture, it deepened and virtually institutionalized corruption in all segments of our national life.　 As some commentators have pointed to the fact that a number of our past military rulers are stupendously rich is a testimony that they indeed appropriated our commonwealth for their individual pockets at the expense of the vast majority of our people.　 The on-going revelations in the various probes of the military top brass again rubbishes any talk about the illusion of the incorruptibility of the military.

“We call on the Chief of Army Staff to go beyond just informing Nigerians and cautioning those trying to derail our democracy to desist from it.　　

Rather, the armed forces should at the appropriate time　 after concluding its investigation, identify the individuals involved, prosecute them in the relevant courts, and if found guilty given the appropriate punishments as deterrent to potentially ambitious adventurers.

“We call on elected public office holders at all levels of our governance architecture: from local government, to state and federal governments to rededicate themselves and work to make the benefits of our democracy,　 what we in Nigeria call the dividends of democracy to reach the masses of our population.