Governorship candidate of the Social Democratic Party (SDP) in the November 2023 Kogi election, Alhaji Murtala Yakubu Ajaka, has appealed for calm in the face of daunting economic hardship in the country.
In a statement which issued in Abuja on Sunday, Ajaka advised the Nigerian Organised Labour to shelve planned protests and strike.
He expressed fears that the planned industrial action could heighten insecurity as fifth columnists may hide under the chaos to perpetrate crimes.
He called for patriotism in the nation’s trying times, noting that government was doing its best to tackle the hardship.
According to him, the current economic crisis is a global phenomenon which requires cooperation among all for the nation to come out of this economic quagmire.
“I dutifully join other patriots in identifying with the concerns of fellow Nigerians over the prevailing economic hardship in our dear country; and also to offer counsel to the Organised Labour Movement led by the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) and the Trade Union Congress (TUC) against embarking on their proposed national strike.
“The decision to go on strike if not revisited, could trigger precipitous consequences in the forms of exacerbation of the current quagmire and an escalation of criminality and attendant insecurity which are predictable recipes for the breakdown of civil order.
“Evidently, there is no denying the fact of invasive poverty owing basically to the speedy escalation of prices of essential commodities like foodstuffs and necessaries as well as the cost of services.
“This is due to a systemic institutional adjustments by government that are geared towards revamping our abyss-bound economy.
“It is a global experience that the pain we confront now is the immediate shock that logically attends such redemptive economic policies.
“Truly, all Nigerians including my humble self are groaning under the excruciating torment of this harsh existential reality but on the flip side, it is a call to patriotic understanding so that our reactions do not undermine the the unity and security the country.
“I therefore plead with Organised Labour to exercise exemplary patience, demobilise their members from the imminent industrial action and grant government the benefit of trust at least till the 29th of May, 2024 when this administration would be one calendar year post inauguration. This I seek in the national interest,” he said.
