An ex-British envoy in Nigeria, Mr David Roberts, Wednesday, cautioned the UK Trade Union Congress not to endanger the prevailing cordial diplomatic relations between the United Kingdom and Nigeria.
Roberts, a director of the British Council, was reacting to the UK trade congress’ condemnation of the arrest of the President of the Nigerian Labour Congress, Mr Joe Ajaero, by the Department of State Services (DSS) Monday in Abuja.
Ajaero was arrested Monday morning at the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja, on his way to attend the 157th Conference of the UK Trade Union Congress in Brighton. However, he was released by midnight after questioning.
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“We condemn the actions of the Nigerian government and demand that they end their persecution of Joe Ajaero,” the UK TUC said Tuesday in a solidarity statement.
However, the presidency, in a statement Tuesday by the Special Adviser to the President on Information and Strategy, Mr Bayo Onanuga, clarified that Ajaero was arrested for snubbing the DSS’s invitation to respond to an investigation on a security matter.
While saying no one was above the law, the presidency explained that the labour leader was bound to cooperate with any security agency that required his attention.
And toeing same line Wednesday, Roberts, in a statement, warned against the adverse effect of the UK TUC’s action.
“The UK/Nigerian relationships are significant in the grand scheme of things as we look towards a stabilising force in West Africa, and it would be most imprudent for a non-governmental busybody to put this in peril.”
While saying the UK TUC’s intervention was based on ignorance of the facts of the case, Roberts said: “I find it utterly unbecoming that, with the access to information that living in the United Kingdom offers, anyone could go public so ignorantly about a matter they have demonstrated that they know nothing about.
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