Hardship: Anti-NLC protest rocks Abuja

Some of pro-democracy activists on Friday staged a solidarity march from the popular Unity Fountain to the National Assembly complex in Abuja demanding that the Nigeria Labour Congress suspend its planned two-day protest.

They also asked organised labour to return to the negotiation table with the Federal Government.

They vowed to mobilise Nigerians against the unionists if the lawmakers couldn’t convince them not to go ahead with the protest.

The protesters, who arrived at the complex in six luxury buses, were chanting solidarity songs and displaying anti-NLC placards.

Some of the placards read “Let’s be patient with Tinubu”, “NLC, please rest. Jagaban is working” and “NLC, stop pretending to be fighting for Nigerians.”

Addressing newsmen at the Unity Fountain, Convener of Nigerian Civil Society Forum, Sunday Attah, said those who were familiar with history know that the same NLC that is ‘pretending to fight for the masses’ was among the biggest critics of fuel subsidy removal.

Attah urged the NLC to borrow a leaf from the United Kingdom where the people stood with the government when the country’s economy entered recession.

“We must understand the trajectory of how the NLC has operated over time. Remember in this same country when fuel subsidy was removed, they got up and claimed to be standing for Nigerians.

“They fought and said fuel subsidy should not be removed. But after a series of meetings, which of course today they are saying didn’t yield any fruit, we know how these ‘coloured’ papers exchanged hands and matters died on the ground.

“We are not going to allow the NLC to plunge Nigeria into anarchy. Calling for protest against an eight-month-old government is uncalled for.

“The President is doing his best. He is not a magician. All that Nigerians need at the moment is to be patient with the President,” he said.