Ebonyi State NLC Boss Hospitalised After Brutal Police Attack

As the nationwide strike by the Nigeria Labour Congress, NLC continues, things got out of hand in Ebonyi State after its chairman, Ikechukwu Nwafor, was rushed to the emergency ward of the Federal Teaching Hospital Abakaliki (FETHA) following his rough encounter with the Nigeria Police Force.

According to Premium Times reports, the NLC boss, alongside other Labour leaders in the state, were tear-gassed, manhandled and whisked away to the state police headquarters on Thursday. Upon his release on Friday, the labour leader slumped and was immediately rushed to the hospital where he was still receiving treatment at press time.

Union members say all he was guilty of was leading a peaceful protest staged by NLC members in the state against the increase in electricity tariff and fuel pump price by Federal Government.

The policemen were said to have intercepted the NLC members at Pastoral Centre along old Abakaliki-Enugu expressway and descended on them when they refused to be cowed out of the protests. Comrade Nwafor was seen rolling on the ground during this brutal attack.

The Labour leader while speaking on his hospital bed, decried the action of the police saying they (the NLC protesters) were handled like common criminals.

“Our greatest surprise was that this team was led by an Assistant Commissioner of Police in charge of Operations and he was commanding his men to deal with me and even when I was on the ground he was matching me and ordered about five of them to lift me and throw me into a Hilux van”.

He went further to state that the state Commissioner of Police, Peace Ibekwe Abdallah, confirmed that she ordered the attack on him and his colleagues, claiming labour undermined her office by embarking on the protest without getting her approval.

“We even gave the police the letter before DSS and the DSS sent their men, they were on the crew with their vehicle following us and guiding what we were doing.” Nwafor stated, refuting the Police Commisioner’s allegation

He said he has communicated the incident to the national leadership of NLC which has promised to follow up the matter, even as the police deny the incident, claiming they only used “minimal force”.