Minister of Labour and Employment, Dr Chris Ngige, has said he and his neighbour are considering taking legal action against the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) over the blockage of their houses by the union.
Ngige spoke with State House correspondents Thursday at the Presidential Villa, Abuja.
He said blocking his house was an infringement on his fundamental human rights and that of his household as they were all traumatised.
The NLC had in the early hours of Wednesday took a protest to Ngige’s Asokoro, Abuja residence, over his failure to inaugurate the board of National Social Insurance Trust Fund (NSITF) with Frank Kokori as the chairman.
There were reports alleging that NLC members were attacked by suspected thugs allegedly hired by the minister who inflicted various degrees of injury on the protesters.
The NLC President, Ayuba Wabba, had described the scene as barbaric.
“The act today is barbaric; where maximum force has been used on workers. And live bullets have been used on them.
“Whereas workers went with bare hands, but you have seen what has happened.
“They were carrying weapons and arms. And as I talk to you, we have four people in the hospital apart from those that were injured by bullets,’’ Wabba had said.
Ngige, however, denied the allegations of attacks, saying that reports he read in the dailies were unfortunate and misleading.
He said NLC members arrived at his resident at 4:30 a.m in the morning.
The minister said when the security people accosted them, they discovered that it was the president of NLC himself that came physically with two tankers one laden with petrol and one half-full.
He said he immediately contacted the FCT Commissioner of Police and the Director of SSS as well the FRSC to see if the tankers could be removed.
Ngige said his findings showed that the NLC members were attacked by the thugs they hired over some disagreements.
“They put one at the gate of my house and put the other one at the gate of the other house which happens to be that of my neighbour.
“People in that compound were traumatized. Some of the cooks and policemen who have quarters were traumatised.
“It cannot be quantified. Even my neighbours, the husband and wife and their children could not do their business yesterday.
“Those tankers were removed around 6.O’clock or so; it is quite unfortunate.
“My neighbour said they would take legal action.It is an actionable thing; illegal actions are actionable. Nobody is above the law,’’ he said.
