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Strike: Mobilisation in top gear, as NLC insists on old fuel price
The pump price of Premium Motor Spirit (PMS), must revert to the original status before last week’s more than 200 per cent increase, the leadership of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), has maintained on Sunday, as it snubbed the meeting being called by President Bola Tinubu to discuss the outcome of the sudden increase.
With all eyes on Wednesday’s commencement of total strike it has called, they say nothing short of returning to the status quo would make them sit at table for any negotiation on the issue, and that it was the only way to stave off the impending action.
Following President Bola Tinubu’s removal of the subsidy during his inauguration speech on May 29, scarcity of the product hit the citizenry nationwide as marketers hoarded and hiked the price of fuel.
A meeting between government officials and labour leaders last Wednesday, ended in a deadlock, as a result of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation Limited, (NNPCL’s) release of a petrol pump price template pegging pump price of petrol at between N488 and N557 per litre.
Vanguard, quoted one of the leaders as saying on Sunday, that it was for the same reason that they would not attend a meeting scheduled at the Presidential Villa Abuja, for the same purpose, adding that: “Officials of government have been calling us and we have bluntly told them that we will no longer hold any meeting with them until the pump price of petrol is returned to pre-May 29 price.
“In other words, the pump price of petrol has to return to status quo to give room for negotiation and way forward.’’
However, a meeting by the leaders of the Trade Union Congress of Nigeria (TUC), on the same day with the government officials but was inconclusive as both parties resolved to continue talks on the issue tomorrow, with the body representing senior staff in Nigeria, putting a set of demands, including upward review of the minimum wage on board.
Meanwhile, ahead of the planned nationwide indefinite strike from Wednesday, the NLC has directed its state councils and affiliates to ensure full mobilisation of workers and civil society allies among others towards a total strike should the Federal Government refuse to reverse the pump price of petrol to pre-May 29 prices by tomorrow (Tuesday).
In a letter, titled: Notice on mobilisation for nationwide withdrawal of service, by the General Secretary, Emma Ugboaja, the NLC wrote: “We bring you greetings from the leadership of the Nigeria Labour Congress. You will recall that arising from the National Executive Council meeting held on 2nd June 2023, it was decided that congress will embark on a nationwide action and withdrawal of services, against the fraudulent increase in the price of fuel across the 36 states of the Federal Republic of Nigeria and the FCT.
“Please, be informed that the nationwide action will commence on Wednesday, June 7, 2023. To this effect, we request that all state chairpersons should mobilise workers for the action and ensure full compliance with the directives as services in both the public and private sectors are expected to be fully withdrawn by Wednesday, June 7, 2023.
“All state chairpersons are expected to fully abide by the decisions of the National Executive Council.”
Recall that NLC had on Friday in a communique at the end of an emergency National Executive Council, NEC, meeting, “considered the huge suffering pervading the nation, the outrage expressed by the majority and the increased attendant fears of the consequences of the PMS price hike, unanimously condemned the actions of the Federal Government and reached the following conclusion that it was unlawful for the Federal Government to have announced the withdrawal of subsidy on PMS.
“The 2023 Appropriation Act made provisions for funding subsidy regime on PMS till the end of June 2023.
“It is unfair for the government to knowingly take action that will inflict pains on the populace and workers without putting adequate safeguards in place.
“Discussions were already on an understanding reached with the government on the conditions precedent before the withdrawal of subsidy on PMS.
“The local refineries, especially the publicly-owned four, have remained comatose as a result of the government’s inability to get them operationally turned around.
“We cannot accept any petroleum product price increase until products are refined locally. The Federal Government’s decision was unilateral and, therefore, runs counter to the spirit of national consensus and social dialogue.
“NEC-in-session also noted that there is a subsisting judgment of the court that voided the powers of the Nigerian state to deregulate and fix prices of petroleum products in the country.
“Between 1993 and 2023, about $ 6 billion was used for Turn Around Maintenance, TAM, of the refineries without any results. $ 7 billion was given to 14 banks owned by the elite from the public treasury to keep them afloat. Between 2016 and now, N26 trillion was given to the rich as import waivers.
“The NNPC is still unable to tell us how it arrived at the pricing templates and the names of the beneficiaries of the subsidy funds.
“The NEC-in-session subsequently resolved to demand the immediate withdrawal of the vexatious NNPCL price adjustments and revert to the old price in keeping with the 2023 Appropriation Act, to immediately commence effective mobilization of all workers and citizens, in conjunction with the civil society, for a robust and inclusive engagement to resist the imposition of higher prices on PMS on Nigerians.
“NEC-in-session, hereby, affirms a seven-day ultimatum, beginning from Wednesday, May 31, 2023, to the federal government to revert to the old price to allow dialogue to proceed.
“On the expiration of the ultimatum without full compliance by the Federal Government, Congress shall embark on an indefinite nationwide withdrawal of services and mass protests, starting 00:00 hours on Wednesday, June 7, 2023. To this end, all affiliates and state councils of the NLC are directed to immediately commence full mobilization of members to ensure the success of this action nationwide.”
“Nothing must happen to Peter Obi. An injury to one is an injury to all. When one opposition leader is intimidated, every opposition voice is diminished,” came the immediate reaction of Atiku Abubakar candidate of the African Democratic Congress (ADC), in the 2027 presidential election on Thursday.
It was a day Atiku, who came second in the 2023 election and Obi, third, in the declaration made by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), also asked for the release of Nasir el-Rufai, former governor of Kaduna, warning that democracy is threatened when opposition figures are intimidated.
Obi, Governor of Anambra State between 2006 to 2014, had accused the federal government of deliberately frustrating his means of livelihood and targeting opposition figures, while appearing on #WithChude podcast, a programme hosted by Chude Jidonwo, a popular Nigerian social media host.
On the same Tuesday, Obi’s outing broke on social media, where he claimed that the way the Tinubu government was pursuing him, he was not sure of making it to the 2027 election alive, the family of the former Kaduna State Governor, also came publicly to describe stark details of what the family head, currently in detention since February this year, has been facing.
Conveying his distaste on the two situations through, Phrank Shaibu, his spokesman, Atiku, Nigeria’s Vice President between 1999 and 2007, added: “When one citizen begins to fear because of his political beliefs, democracy itself becomes the casualty.”
In a quick riposte to the scant regard, Aso Rock seemed to have placed on Obi’s fears, the former VP, said: “The Presidency must understand that democratic leadership demands composure, not contempt. When a citizen, particularly an opposition figure, voices concerns about the state of the nation or his personal safety, the first duty of government is to reassure through statesmanship, facts and responsible conduct—not through insults.
“Democracies are strengthened by reasoned engagement, not by invective. A government that answers every criticism with abuse projects insecurity, not confidence. The opposition is not the enemy of Nigeria.
“Poverty is the enemy. Hunger is the enemy. Insecurity is the enemy. Corruption is the enemy. Kidnapping is the enemy. The daily bloodletting across our communities is the enemy. A government that devotes more energy to attacking its critics than confronting these existential challenges has confused political survival with the purpose of governance. There are schoolchildren and teachers still waiting to be reunited with their families. There are countless innocent Nigerians languishing in the camps of kidnappers,” he said.
“These are the emergencies that deserve the full machinery of government—not endless political sparring with opposition figures. The Federal Government must devote the same urgency it applies to political communication to rescuing kidnapped Nigerians and restoring public confidence in national security.”
Regarding the plight of el-Rufai, Atiku stated: “The continued detention of Mallam Nasir El-Rufai has generated widespread public concern. Every Nigerian, irrespective of political affiliation, is entitled to due process, equal protection under the law and the presumption of innocence until proven guilty by a competent court. Justice must never create the appearance of selective application.
“Public confidence is not restored through insults or propaganda. It is restored through openness, accountability and the courage to answer legitimate questions,” he said.
“Governments earn trust by confronting controversy with facts, strengthening institutions and demonstrating that no one is above scrutiny. Our elders say: ‘When the drums of injustice beat for your neighbour, do not dance, for tomorrow they may beat for you. Every Nigerian, regardless of political affiliation, has a stake in defending the democratic space. Release Mallam Nasir El-Rufai.
“Bring home every abducted schoolchild, every teacher and every innocent Nigerian still languishing in the hands of kidnappers.
“Stop chasing political opponents and start confronting the crises that are bleeding our nation. History will not remember how fiercely a government fought its critics.
“It will remember whether it protected its citizens, upheld justice, rescued the vulnerable and preserved the democracy entrusted to its care.”
“They apologised to me privately. I said they should put it on social media. They said they will not put it on social media, it will affect their credibility, because it’s not just them, but their other programmers at the Al Jazeera network too.”
These were the words of Daniel Bwala, while giving further insight into what has transpired along the line since his controversial interview with Mehdi Hasan of Al Jazeera, a global television network in March 2026, stating that the station privately apologised to him.
Bwala, who appeared on The Morayo Show, a private talk-show programme, hosted by Morayo Afolabi-Brown, a popular television presenter, however said because both Mehdi and Al Jazeera, refused to make the apology public, he was prompted him to instruct his lawyers in England to sue for defamation.
Clips on the controversial outing in which Bwala, spokesman for the campaign of Atiku Abubakar during his presidential bid in 2023, were in the public domain for several weeks after where a groundswell of commentators believed his performance was not only underwhelming, but he was outrightly disgraced.
He added: “The substance of the apology was that they should have told me that part of what they discussed with me was a talking point, that they were also going to interrogate me on my credibility for supporting the person I had attacked before.
“By their own ethics, they ought to have told me that, but they said they were sorry they didn’t. If you’re bold, if you call yourself a journalist, a fact-checker, you run your programme live and let people judge live.
“If you’re thinking straight, that’s what you’d do. You took creative control of the programme. You made a recorded programme. Ethics demanded you publish it exactly as it was recorded.”
Informing that the programme ran for one hour and 30 minutes but Al Jazeera published only 49 minutes, he accused the network of skewing the footage in Hasan’s favour, adding: “The deeper point is that they cut out the parts where I was fact-checking him and the crowd was clapping for me, and instead kept the parts where he was speaking and people were clapping for him. He’d ask me a question, I’d deny it, then he’d play the old clip. We call that ‘cut and joined’ in media. After doing that, which amounts to a smear campaign, he didn’t give me the chance to react to it.
“Instead, he let it appear that I was simply asked a question, denied it, was shown the clip, denied it again, was shown another clip, and denied it again. He removed that part, because if he’d left it in, anyone watching would understand that I had already answered the question upfront, and that my later denials were a response to his repeated bringing it up. That’s where the unethical conduct of a professional issue arose.
“When they apologised, I said no, put it on social media. They refused. So, I instructed my lawyers in England to go to court. The case is currently in court. Because my advisers in England said it’s defamation of character.”
More successes are being recorded by Nigerian forces trying to rout out terrorist in parts of the country, with emerging reports indicating that the perpetrators are currently running scared from the hot onslaughts they are getting from the operatives.
Channels Television, is quoting military authorities at the Operation Hadin kai (OPHK) conducting military blitzkrieg against the terrorists in the North East as saying that the troops received six Islamic State of West African Province (ISWAP), one of the major terrorist groups operating in the area, who surrendered alongside their families, at the 192 Battalion (Main) Sector 1 of the body.
Quoting a statement on Wednesday by Mohammed Goni, spokesman of the military operation, with headquarters in Maiduguri, Borno State, the report, said that among the items recovered from the terrorists and their families included a cumulative sum of more than N1.5 million, two Tecno mobile phones, and other items.
Th statement, added that troops of 115 Task Force Battalion, while conducting ongoing search and rescue operations in Askira/Uba Local Government Area of Borno State, on July 7, rescued two additional abductees from a terrorist hideout, where they also recovered cash of N1.2 million suspected to be proceeds of criminal activities, food items, and other logistics believed to have supported terrorist operations.
The rescued victims have since been evacuated to a secure location where they are receiving appropriate medical care and psychosocial support, the report said, adding that during the same period, the troops noted that it contained a coordinated attack by ISWAP terrorists in Borno, and one of the soldiers was killed.
“Although the insurgents briefly exploited a section of the base’s defensive perimeter during the intense firefight, the troops rapidly regrouped, mounted a determined counter-offensive and decisively expelled the attackers, inflicting significant casualties and forcing the surviving terrorists to flee with varying degrees of gunshot wounds.
“Regrettably, one gallant soldier paid the supreme price, while two gun-trucks and some combat enablers sustained damage during the engagement. The situation at FOB Logomani remains firmly under the control of Operation HADIN KAI troops, with reinforcements deployed, exploitation operations ongoing and additional measures being implemented to further strengthen the defensive resilience of the location.”
Detailing how troops of 232 Battalion apprehended a notorious criminal in Gombi Local Government Area of Adamawa State, the statement, said: “Follow-up exploitation of the arrest led to the recovery of one AK-47 rifle, two magazines, and twenty-eight rounds of 7.62mm special ammunition.
“The suspect and recovered items are currently in military custody, while further investigations are underway to identify and apprehend other members of the criminal network.”
Similarly, the statement said troops of the 149 Battalion arrested two suspected terrorist logistics suppliers in the Mobbar Local Government Area of Borno State.
The recovered items include cash sums, a Volkswagen Golf vehicle, construction materials, household items, and other supplies suspected to have been destined for terrorist elements.
The suspects are currently undergoing interrogation, while the recovered items remain in military custody as investigations continue.
As part of ongoing offensive operations, troops of 24 Task Force Brigade, in conjunction with members of the Civilian Joint Task Force, conducted a clearance operation on known terrorist enclaves around Wulgo.
During the operation, the troops said they exploited the terrorists’ hasty withdrawal and recovered a sack containing assorted illicit drugs abandoned by the fleeing insurgents.
“The recovery further underscores the sustained pressure being mounted on terrorist elements, denying them freedom of movement and disrupting their operational capabilities.”
Relatedly, the troops apprehended a suspected BHT/ISWAP logistics supplier at the Molai checkpoint in possession of large quantities of medical supplies without due clearance. The suspect and items recovered are in custody for further interrogation.
Again, in Sector 2 Area of Responsibility, Troops of 233 Tank Battalion, in conjunction with local hunters, intercepted and arrested a suspected BHT/ISWAP terrorist logistics supplier from Ngirya village of Tarmuwa LGA with five motorcycle tires. The suspect and items are in military custody for investigation.
“These latest operational gains underscore the effectiveness of sustained offensive operations, actionable intelligence and the seamless collaboration among security agencies and auxiliary forces in dismantling terrorist logistics networks, disrupting criminal activities and protecting vulnerable communities across the North East”, the statement added.
Headquarters Operation HADIN KAI assured the public that ongoing search and rescue operations will continue with unwavering resolve until every abducted person is accounted for and safely reunited with their families.
“The Theatre Command also issues a stern warning to individuals involved in supplying food, fuel, construction materials, transportation or any other form of logistics to terrorist groups to immediately desist. Anyone found aiding, abetting or collaborating with terrorist elements, directly or indirectly, will be identified, apprehended and prosecuted in accordance with the law.”
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