BUHARI SUPPORTERS CLASH WITH NLC IN ABUJA

Some loyalists to President Muhammadu Buhari reportedly clashed with labour union workers during a rally in Abuja on Thursday, May 19. The Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) as well as other sister affiliates have been on strike since Wednesday, May 18, to protest the hike in fuel prices following the deregulation of the oil sector and the removal of fuel subsidy.

They are requesting that the federal government must revert to the old price of N87/litre from the N145 which Nigerians have been asked to purchase the product. And on Thursday, during their rally in Abuja, Nigeria’s federal capital, some of the labour union workers were stopped at the Area 1 motor park.

Some broom-waving youths were chanting pro-Buhari slogans as the NLC leaders and civil society activists addressed a crowd of protesters. 

The youths’ chant of “Sai Buhari!” was said to have almost drowned the speech of the labour union workers at the motor park area.  Pro Buhari Some of the pro-Buhari protesters during the rally on Thursday, May 19. Save for the timely intervention of police officers who quickly waded into the matter, the protest could have degenerated into a riot.

The policemen, according to The Nation reports, were said to have escorted the protesters from the Julius Berger roundabout to Area 1 where security personnel were already stationed to forestall any breakdown of law and order.

Pro Buhari The youths were chanting ‘Sai Baba’ as NLC members stormed Berger roundabout in Abuja. Abubakar Adamu Guduf, the spokesperson of the youth group, stated that they mobilised support for President Buhari because the union leaders were not there for them when they were being attacked by Boko Haram terrorists.

He said: “The reason why we are against the NLC is that none of them came out to protest against what Boko Haram was doing under former President Goodluck Jonathan or how government left our people to be killed like fowl.

they abandoned us in the North East. Pro Buhari Policemen were on ground to avert any major crisis. “But now, Buhari is doing well, we now have peace and I can now go to Gwoza, my local government area and they say Buhari is not good.”

Meanwhile, Ayuba Wabba, the national president of the Nigerian Labour Congress (NLC), on Thursday, May 19, said that the congress was ready to negotiate with the federal government.

He disclosed this in the National Assembly Abuja, while briefing newsmen after a closed-door meeting between the leadership of the Union and Bukola Saraki, the Senate president. He said that the strike would continue as the government had yet to reach out to the union for negotiations.