The National Coordinator of the Federal Workers Forum, Andrew Emelieze, is to appear at a Federal High Court, Ibadan, today(Tuesday) for leading a peaceful protest over the payment of wage awards arrears.
A statement on Tuesday noted that the charge is for Emelieze to defend himself “against the four count charges brought against him by the Nigerian state through the DSS revolving around organising April 23, 2025 protest demanding for the payment of outstanding five months wage award, calling for protest in Aso rock gate on July 1st, 2025, formation of the Federal Workers Forum/incitement and cyber bullying.
“Nigeria is not a banana republic. Protest cannot be a crime and the right to freedom of association is part of our fundamental human rights,” the statement read in part.
“Comrade Femi Falana (SAN) has been of immense help in this battle. His Excellency, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, former Vice President of Nigeria spoke out loud against my detention by the DSS.
“Many more lawyers and the citizenry have also shown immense solidarity. The mass media, the civil society groups and many activist have not relented in calling for justice.
“I appreciate all the federal workers, friends and my family. I thank God for He has given us Victor.
“We shall overcome. We will not be silenced,” the statement read in parts.
In September, the Federal Workers Forum (FWF) had called on President Bola Tinubu to intervene and ensure the withdrawal of court charges filed against its National Coordinator, Comrade Andrew Emelieze, describing his arrest and detention as “a deliberate set up to silence the federal workers.”
The letter was jointly signed by Comrades Ogunwale Babatunde (Chairman, Mobilisation Committee), Ismail Azeez (Osun State Chapter), Lazarus Bar (Plateau State Chapter), Aliyu Ibrahim (Sokoto State Chapter), Johnson Joseph (Taraba State Chapter), and Ogbona Grace (Abia State Chapter).
In the letter addressed to the President, the National Assembly, the Judiciary, and other key institutions on September 15, 2025, the forum said it was unjust for Emelieze to be singled out after leading a collective protest of federal workers over unpaid arrears, wage awards, and poor welfare conditions.
According to the statement, “We the federal workers under the platform of the Federal Workers Forum are writing Mr President, the National Assembly, the Judiciary, the relevant authorities, the DSS and the good people of Nigeria; to drop all court charges instituted against Comrade Andrew Emelieze for leading the federal government workers in Nigeria to demand for the payment of outstanding wage award arrears, promotion arrears, all other pending outstanding arrears owed the federal workers and the promotion of the wellbeing of the Nigerian federal workforce.”
The workers said their appeal was borne out of the “nagging harsh living conditions of the federal workers, outstanding backlog of promotion arrears and others owed the federal workers including the long overdue payment of the wage award / full implementation of the minimum wage.”
They recalled that it was a collective decision of members of the forum to protest on July 1, 2025, if their demands were not met, stressing that such civic action should not be criminalised.
“It was also our collective decision to protest if our demands are not met on the 1st of July 2025. We do not see how this constitutes a crime or attack on the government. It is never our intention to attack the government but to call the attention of the federal government to address the challenges confronting the federal government workers.”
The FWF condemned the arrest of Emelieze, stating: “We are surprised that this has led to the arrest and detention of just one man, Comrade Andrew Emelieze being singled out for persecution. To us, this looks like a deliberate set up to silence the federal workers.”
They also questioned whether the detention aligned with the President’s pro-democracy credentials. “We don’t believe this is the best for our democracy. We equally want to believe that President Tinubu is not aware of this case, we are equally in doubt that Mr President who publicly touts being a pro-democracy advocate in the struggle to end military rule in Nigeria will stoop so low to encouraging the suppression of the citizenry.”
The forum insisted that responsibility for the protest was collective:
“We the workers are taking absolute responsibility for our collective decision to protest on July 1st, don’t hold it against just one man. It was a nationwide decision of the federal workers to raise their voices and attract the attention of government, Comrade Emelieze never acted alone, he had our mandate to lead us, if you must punish anyone, please punish all of us; don’t single out just one man.”
