DON’T BLACKMAIL TINUBU WITH STRIKE: Niger Delta Group Blasts NLC President Ajaero, Says Mobilization Self-Serving, Anti-Nigeria
The Niger Delta Indigenous Movement for Radical Change (NDIMRC) has condemned the planned mobilization of workers for a showdown with President Bola Ahmed Tinubu by the President of the Nigeria Labour Congress, NLC, Comrade Joe Ajaero, describing it as self-serving, ill-timed and against national interest.
The group in a statement on Sunday implored patriotic Nigerians to see the move as politically motivated, economically sabotaging, and insensitive to the ongoing reforms to reposition the country by President Tinubu.
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According to the group, while the opposition parties have gone into wild celebration over Ajaero’s declaration of a three-day warning strike and his latest media attack describing the Tinubu administration as “aloof,” NDIMRC wondered whose interest the NLC President is actually serving.
*From Dialogue to Blackmail*
The group in the statement signed by its President, Nelly Emma, Secretary John Sailor, and PRO Stanley Mukoro, said that records are there to show that President Tinubu has not shunned labour, adding that; “In December 2025, when the NLC threatened a nationwide protest over insecurity, President Tinubu met directly with Ajaero and his team at the State House around 11:27pm, alongside Governors Hope Uzodimma, Nasir Idris, Monday Okpebholo and Minister of State for Labour, Nkeiruka Onyejeocha, in a last-minute effort to avert the protest. That is not the character of an aloof government”.
“In fact, Ajaero himself admitted in his Mic On Podcast interview on Saturday that after the December protest threat, governors intervened and engagement took place.
It is therefore hypocritical for the same NLC leadership to claim that the government “doesn’t engage” and that “everybody is their enemy” while still enjoying open access to the Presidency.
Recall also that President Tinubu demonstrated uncommon statesmanship when he offered labour a N250,000 minimum wage proposal in exchange for a full deregulation of petrol price to N1,500. Ajaero admitted labour rejected it and settled for N70,000. A government willing to offer N250,000 cannot be accused of being anti-worker”, NDIMRC stated.
*A Pattern of Economic Sabotage*
According to the group; “The current mobilization directive issued by the Joint National Public Service Negotiating Council, JNPSNC, demanding petrol be reduced to N500 per litre at a time when subsidy removal has saved the nation trillions and stabilized supply, is not only unrealistic but a deliberate attempt to collapse the economy and incite Nigerians against the President”.
“At a time when all public servants, their dependants and indeed all Nigerians are beginning to see light at the end of the tunnel from the bold reforms, the NLC’s call for a warning strike from October 2nd to 4th is ill-timed, insensitive and an attempt to play to the gallery for opposition politicians who have already started celebrating”, the group added.
*Tinubu Is Fixing What NLC Ignored For Years*
“For years under previous administrations, NLC looked away while the economy bled from subsidy fraud. Today, President Tinubu has taken the hard decisions that past leaders, who NLC romance with, failed to take.
Instead of mobilizing for a showdown that will shut down hospitals, schools and public services, Comrade Ajaero should mobilize his members to support the Renewed Hope Agenda and be patient as reforms mature”, they wrote.
Nigerians, according to the group; “must not allow themselves to be used as cannon fodder in a politically motivated labour war. The President means well for workers and has shown it in wage awards, CNG initiatives, and continuous dialogue.The opposition may be celebrating today, but Nigerians know better. The era of using strike threats to blackmail government for selfish ends is over. It is rather unfortunate that Ajaero has drawn the battle line with the President rather than doing everything possible to support the administration that has achieved so much for the nation and the people. He came out condemning all economic policies of the President and we know that he is not doing this in the interest of Nigerians, but self-serving. He must not be allowed to mobilize workers against President Tinubu and Nigerian workers must not allow themselves to be used by the selfish NLC President”.
DemocracyNewslineNewspaper October 5th, 2026
