KADUNA: I won’t attend meeting with NLC in Abuja, says el-Rufai

GOVERNOR Nasir el-Rufai has said none of his officials will attend the Federal Government proposed meeting with the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) in Abuja today.

The governor, who made this known on Wednesday night after the labour unions called off their five-day warning strike, said the state has no electricity and the FG should be held responsible.

Recall that the FG through Minister of Labour and Employment, Chris Ngige, had intervened in the face-off by inviting both parties to a reconciliation meeting, scheduled to hold by 11 am today at Ngige’s office at the Federal Secretariat, Abuja.

Those invited for the meeting include the Kaduna governor and top officials of his state as well as Wabba and top NLC leaders.

But Governor el-Rufai, in a post on Facebook, said “no official of Kaduna State will go to Abuja for any meeting with FGN or NLC when the citizens of the state have no electricity.”

He added, “We hold the FGN responsible for inability to assert its ownership rights over TCN. No electricity, no meeting.”

Meanwhile, the state government said it is yet to see evidence that NLC has backed off from its “campaign of economic and social sabotage against the people of the state”.

In a statement last night, the governor’s Special Assistant on Media and Communications, Muyiwa Adekeye, said:

“The Kaduna State Government is yet to see evidence that the NLC is backing off from its campaign of economic and social sabotage against the people of the State,” it reads.

“Electric power is yet to be restored after it was shut down at dawn on Sunday, 16th May 2021, in brazen violation of the laws protecting essential services and infrastructure. That action removed any basis for state government officials to meet the NLC last Sunday. Denying our people electricity about 18 hours to the advertised commencement of their organised sabotage was akin to putting a gun on the government’s head. Government has a lawful duty not to indulge in blackmail.

“Restoring electricity is vital to relieving some of the pain that needless acts of lawlessness have inflicted on our people. The unimpeded provision of essential services is vital to civilised order. Those who have disrupted it should promptly reverse themselves, not expect that it will be a matter for negotiation, much less being viewed as a precondition. KDSG will not participate in such a negotiation or countenance one whilst our people are still being denied their right to electricity.”