The Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) acknowledges the release of Comrade William Uwumarogie, the Edo State Chairman of the National Union of Electricity Employees (NUEE), and other members who were illegally arrested in a night raid on Thursday, October 22, 2026. While we welcome their freedom, we note with grave concern that Comrade Uwumarogie is currently hospitalised, receiving treatment for injuries sustained from the brutalisation he suffered at the hands of his abductors; a combined team of military personnel and suspected thugs.

This cowardly and Gestapo-style abduction, which took place at the BEDC Head Office on Akpakpava Road while our comrades were legitimately mounting guard in defense of their livelihoods, was never a lawful action. It was an act of state-sponsored banditry. The fact that a union leader is now in a hospital bed as a direct result of state violence is a damning indictment of the Edo State Government and a stark reminder of its fundamentally hostile disposition towards the working class.

The Edo State Government, under Governor Monday Okpebholo, has once again exposed its true character. This is a regime that has perfected the art of using state violence to crush legitimate trade unionism and alternative views. We are not surprised, given this governor’s penchant for resorting to foul and violent language against those who oppose his views and actions.

Let us be clear about the context of this illegality. NUEE, an affiliate of the NLC, has been engaged in a legitimate industrial action to demand the most basic of human dignities: better working conditions and terms of employment for workers in the company. Instead of training itself on the elements of effective social dialogue and sound industrial relations practices in the state, the state government chose to criminalise workers and brutalise their leaders.

This is not an isolated incident but part of a disturbing pattern. The NLC reminds the Edo State Government of its illegal and ongoing occupation of the NLC Edo State Secretariat; a thuggish act that the International Labour Organization (ILO) has already taken note of with grave concern. The same government that cannot respect the sanctity of a labour secretariat will naturally feel emboldened to send soldiers after union leaders.

The NLC is profoundly alarmed by the staggering duplicity and barefaced hypocrisy of the Edo State Government. Only yesterday evening, representatives of the same government sat with us at a meeting alongside the Federal Government, pleading for time to resolve all the industrial relations issues it has with the NLC. Yet, almost simultaneously, its agents were in Benin City, sneaking through the night to abduct and brutalise members of NUEE, an affiliate of the NLC. We cannot reconcile a state government that begs for patience at the negotiating table in Abuja with one that unleashes soldiers and Police on workers in Benin. This is a highly dangerous trend, not only for trade unions, but us all.

This brazen contradiction exposes a government that has no respect for dialogue, no regard for the rule of law, and no shame before the Nigerian public. How can a state that pleaded for “small time” to resolve its industrial relations disputes turn around, within hours, to launch a night raid on union members and leave their chairman hospitalised? It confirms our worst fears: that the Edo State Government’s plea for time was never in good faith, but a mere tactic to buy space while it perfected its plan to crush legitimate trade union action by force. We take due note of this duplicity, and we demand that the Federal Government take note of the true character of a state partner that cannot be trusted to honour its word.

The NLC demands that the Edo State Government immediately:

1. Apologise for causing to be unleashed, violence against defenseless citizens;

2. Desist from the further use of violence in engaging with industrial relations matters. We are in a democracy;

3. Stop bringing shame to Nigeria through its worrying and lawless actions. The Nigerian worker is not a slave, and Edo State is not the private estate of its governor;

4. Stop further diversion of check-off dues belonging to workers and unions to unknown persons;

5. Ensure that Comrade Uwumarogie and all other injured workers receive appropriate and adequate medical care at the state’s expense. The Edo State Governor will be personally held responsible for their full recovery.

We call on the Nigerian military hierarchy to call its operatives to order. Allowing soldiers to be deployed for illegal arrest of citizens carrying out their legitimate duties amounts to a defilement of the military, an institution set up to protect the lives and properties of the citizenry. We demand that those behind this desecration of the image of the military are identified and appropriate disciplinary action taken against them.

The NLC stands in total solidarity with NUEE. An injury to one is an injury to all. We call on all affiliates and civil society allies to remain on red alert so that together, we can confront this incipient ogre that is threatening to overwhelm a state that boasts of great labour leaders like Pa Imoudu, Adams Oshiomhole, and other heroes of our movement.

Comrade Benson Upah

Ag. General Secretary