‘Presidency Suffering From Selective Amnesia’ — NLC Fires Back Over Fuel Price Hike

The National Labour Congress (NLC) has reacted to the claims by the presidency denying that maintaining the price of fuel was part of the major prerequisites to agreeing to the N70,000 minimum wage in July.

The NLC on Wednesday said it was amused at the “selective amnesia” of the presidency, who in a statement credited to one of its aides, Abdulaziz Abdulaziz said, there was no such agreement.

The NLC on Tuesday demanded that the federal government reverse the hike in fuel prices from the new price of N855-N897 per litre to the previous price of N568-N617 per litre with immediate effect.

The following statement from Abdul-Aziz, who debunked the initial statement from the NLC, where it alleged betrayal stated, “I sat through the two meetings President Bola Ahmed Tinubu had with Labour leaders on minimum.

“At neither of the meetings was an offer made in exchange for a fuel price hike. Ajaero is once again playing his dirty politics with the emotions of Nigerians”.

Irked by the presidency’s reaction, the NLC in a statement on Wednesday, signed by its Head of Information and Public Affairs, Benson Upah said, “We find amusing the denial of Abdulaziz amusing.

“We have since asked ourselves if he is suffering from selective amnesia or attention span deficit.

“However, not satisfied with his dubious denial, he elected to take a side dig at Comrade Joe Ajaero as “…once again playing his dirty politics with the emotions of Nigerians”.

“Whatever the matter is with Abdulaziz, we stand by our statement. And if Abdulaziz was at those meetings as he claimed, he should be courageous enough to let the world know whether the President gave the labour leaders one hour to meet and resolve to either accept and allow an increase or accept N62,000.

“Labour leaders instead chose to meet outside the Villa and report in a week. When they came back, they were blunt and rejected the offer.

“As for Abdulaziz’s side-dig, he should stop insulting the intelligence of Nigerians as they do not need Comrade Joe Ajaero to know they have been taken for a ride and that life has never been this mean, all due to the policies of the government.

“We also find it necessary to let Abdulaziz and those who sent him know that Nigerians are entitled to a decent, respectable life free from harassment, intimidation and starvation.

“Government may have all the ultimate weapons of coercion, true power resides with the people.

“Finally, we are also acutely conscious of the fact that falsehood does not live forever.”

‘Presidency Suffering From Selective Amnesia’ — NLC Fires Back Over Fuel Price Hike is first published on The Whistler Newspaper