The Federal Government has withdrawn the contempt charge against the leaders of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) following their August 2 protest.
The government, through a letter addressed to Messrs Falana & Falana’ Chambers, Counsel to NLC, said it was dropping the charge following a meeting of President Bola Tinubu with Labour leaders which led to the suspension of the nationwide protest.
The government therefore said it did not proceed further with the contempt proceedings, which would have required the issuance of Form 49 within two days of the issuance of Form 48.
The Solicitor-General of the Federation and Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Justice, Mrs B.E. Jeddy-Agba, signed the letter.
Labour had asked the government to withdraw the contempt summons or face an indefinite nationwide strike whenever it comes up for hearing.
The letter by the Federal Ministry of Justice reads: “The attention of the Federal Ministry of Justice has been drawn to the Communiqué issued by the Nigeria Labour Congress, NLC, on August 3, 2023, wherein NLC announced the suspension of its nationwide protests and criticised the contempt summons issued by the National Industrial Court (“Court”), amongst other issues.
“Kindly recall the exchange of correspondence between the Ministry and your Office on the need for compliance with the extant court orders, restraining industrial action of any kind on the part of the Nigeria Labour Congress and Trade Union Congress. The position of the Ministry was informed by the need to safeguard the integrity of the court and prevent avoidable service disruption or damages to public facilities.
“However, despite these exchanges/interventions, the labour unions on 2nd August 2023 proceeded with the industrial action through public protests which led to disruption of work and the eventual pulling down of the gate of the National Assembly.
-Thenation
