The President of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), Joe Ajaero, has spoken of his experiences in police custody after been arrested during the week. 

 Ajaero who said he was beaten blue and black, said he had a bloodshot face in the right eye and receiving treatment at the Federal Medical Center in Owerri, Imo state capital. 

The police had said that Ajaero was taken into custody for protection, not an arrest, but the NLC President refuted the police claim and said he was brutalized.

He said, “God must have taken time to create me or else I wouldn’t have endured the torture from the police.”

Speaking on his ordeal, Ajaero said an interim order from the court was read to him, and he was questioned on why he defied the order.

He said, “If you say extend the interim order, the interim order elapse with time. If they had issued a fresh interim order that expires within one or two weeks it is a different thing and if it expires you issue an expertise order.

“I said see what you are reading, you don’t read things like this where some of us are. So they kept the letter. And they said do I know that I can be persecuted for this (protest)? I said well it is the same court that granted this order that can institute a contempt charge. So you can’t start prosecuting me.

“They beat me, ordinarily the kind of beating I received today, God must have taken extra time to create me.”

Also commenting on the matter, the NLC Head of Information, Benson Upah, said Ajaero was undergoing medical examination at the Federal Medical Centre.

He said, “Congress President, Joe Ajaero has been referred for ophthalmic investigation, a head/brain scan, a full body scan, and cervical spine therapy among other investigations.

“He is presently on a neck collar with wheels all over his skin, with his right eyes shut, he was thoroughly brutalized.”

 Ajaero was in the Imo state for the NLC’s protest and strike over the unfair treatment of workers in the state by Hope Uzodimma, the Imo State Governor.