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The Campaign for Democratic and Workers’ Right (CDWR), has described the alleged killing of two workers of Chi Limited, as the height of callousness and terror and has demanded the adequate compensation of their families.
The agency made the position known in a statement signed by its Publicity Secretary, Chinedu Bosah on Sunday.
It reads:
“The Campaign for Democratic and Workers’ Right (CDWR), stoutly condemns the recent killing of two innocent workers by the Nigerian Police at Chi Limited as ruthless and an act of terror.
“We demand payment of adequate compensation to the families of the deceased, by the Nigerian Police and the management of Chi Limited, as well as bringing to justice, the killer policemen.”
They went further to say that: “It is not surprising that a team of armed police officers invited by the management of Chi Limited, shot and killed the two workers at the company headquarter at Ajao estate, as it is the stock in trade of the Nigerian police.
“After the dastardly act of the Nigerian Police, the Lagos State Police Command, through its Public Relations Officer, Mrs Dolapo Badmos, claimed that “the command has studied the situation and discovered that the personnel deployed acted in accordance with the rules.”
Reacting to this, the CDWR described the statement as “not only an irresponsible, but also a blatant lie!.
According to them, “what actually happened was that casual workers protested the Chi Limited management decision not to give them Christmas gifts and the management mobilised the police to come and use force and characteristically, Mr Daniel Osikoya and one other worker were shot dead.
“This incident says so much of the Nigerian Police and the management of Chi Limited.”
“On the one hand, the police have become largely an armed gang of uniformed men and women, whose primary duty is to run errand for the bosses including killing defenseless workers like what we have seen in Nassarawa state, Chi Limited and many other cases.
“Hence, CDWR demands the prosecution of the entire police team that embarked on this onslaught, as well as key members of the management.
“The police, like other forces, are a willing tool in the hands of the bosses, bourgeoisies and ruling class to suppress the will of the working masses.
“The Nigerian police needs to be reformed radically into a community policing with active participation of the working people across the federation and under democratic control of the working masses.
CDWR on the other hand, also accused the management of Chi Limited for “perpetuating all manners of anti-workers policies”.
“The owners and management of Chi Limited are to be blamed as well – on numerous occasions, the management had mobilized the Nigerian Police to intimidate and harass workers.”
Recalling a past incident, the campaign said: “In 2009, a casual worker, Mr Taiwo Oyelami, who sustained a serious injury in the course of work on December 29, 2008, was not only harassed and sacked after 5 months, he was also abandoned and denied full treatment and compensation.
“Chi Limited is notorious for perpetuating all manners of anti-workers policies,” they stated.
“What is more worrisome is the fact that the leaders of the union (Agricultural and Allied Employees’ Union of Nigeria) at Chi Limited have become bellboys to the management.”
According to them, “the union leadership is so irresponsible that it openly defends the management at the expense of workers whose contribution, oils the union’s machinery- this is a disservice to the interest of workers.
“We call on the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) to take up this matter with all the seriousness that it deserves to ensure that the Nigeria Police and Chi Limited do not sweep this matter under the carpet.
“Failing to do this will further embolden the Nigeria Police and companies’ owners like Chi Limited to continue terrorizing workers,” the statement read.
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