Senator representing Edo North Senatorial District, Adams Oshiomhole, has revealed that he was once assaulted and detained by men of the Department of State Services (DSS) during his tenure as the President of the Nigerian Labour Congress (NLC) between 1999 and 2007.
Oshiomole made this revelation in an interview on Channels Television’s Politics Today on Wednesday.
The former governor of Edo State was reacting to the recent brutalization of the President of the NLC, Joe Ajaero, in Imo State.
and criticized the decision of organized labour to embark on a nationwide strike in response to the incident.
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 traveling because we had given an ultimatum to the then Federal Government headed by President Olusegun Obasanjo.
“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.”
Oshiomhole added that he ended up in detention for at least 48 hours after being “taken away” and expressed his determination to continue the struggle for justice.
Meanwhile, Oshiomhole said Ajaero has mixed politics with issues of organized labour.
According to him, Ajaero’s assault in Imo State is not a good reason for a nationwide strike.