Former Governor of Edo State and Senator representing Edo North, Adams Oshiomhole, has reflected on his time as the president of the Nigerian Labour Congress (NLC) between 1999 and 2007.
According to the senator, while he was NLC President, he was arrested by the Department of State Security (DSS) and dragged on the tarmac.
Oshiomhole stated this while commenting on the recent assault of NLC President, Joe Ajaero, during an interview on Channels Television.
He said;
“I had a similar experience… I was on my way to Delta State and I went to the airport. The then director of SSS ordered that I should be arrested and stopped from travelling because we had given an ultimatum to the then Federal Government headed by President Olusegun Obasanjo.”
Oshiomhole said the ultimatum had to do with resisting the attempt to withdraw fuel subsidy because of our fears of the consequential increase in the cost of living. He revealed that he ended up in detention after being “taken away” for two days.
He added;
“They dragged me on the tarmac and I had my cuts all over the place. They forcefully prevented me from flying and took me back to the DSS director general’s office — then Col. [Kayode] Are.
“He offered to take me to their own hospital and I said, ‘No, I can’t even trust a government that has inflicted this kind of wound on me to treat me. They might as well poison my blood.’ I said I wasn’t going to do that.
“For at least 48 hours, the NLC couldn’t locate me. When eventually I was let out, the bandage on my arm with the blood and all that, I told my colleagues, ‘This blood would rather reinforce and wet my appetite for the struggle for justice.”
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