There were exuberant celebrations at the national secretariat of the NLC in Abuja and at its state offices when the NLC president, Joe Ajaero, returned from the police headquarters after meeting with police chiefs in Abuja. Ajaero was invited for interrogation for allegedly being involved in serious crimes, including money laundering and terrorism financing.

Immediately after the invitation was made public, Nigerians suspected that the allegations were not only spurious but also a camouflage to detain the recalcitrant labour leader for his unstinting struggles for workers’ welfare.

There were apprehensions within the labour unions and their affiliates that the NLC president would be locked away for no clear reason. NLC has also been at war with Labour Party officials, particularly its national chairman, Julius Abure, over the control of the party.

To forestall being detained, Ajaero had briefed a prominent human rights lawyer, Femi Falana, who went to the police headquarters with him, while the NLC issued a statement threatening a nationwide strike should he be kept by the police.

Clearly, the threat saved Ajaero from incarceration; and I must commend the NLC for standing up to and resisting the fascist tendencies of the government. There are indications that the Bola Tinubu administration is increasingly becoming intolerant and irascible. Many journalists have been detained and harassed by the government for doing their jobs, and I have long suspected that labour would be the next victim.

Ajaero’s sin is that he’s been quite unbending in fighting for workers’ minimum wage. By resisting the police, NLC has shown that it is possible to fend off the government’s dictatorial tendencies.

I have been so worried and alarmed by the ease with which security agencies pick up journalists and throw them into jail without a court trial. The NUJ, NGE, BON and other bodies in the media industry must borrow a leaf from the NLC in defending the rights of journalists.

We must remember that the price of our liberty is eternal vigilance. Nigerians must rise up and defend their hard-won democracy.