The travails of Ajaero: Sacrifice in humility

AJAERO is the President of the Nigeria Labour Congress ( NLC), who was elected into office since the 7th day of February, 2023. He is still the General Secretary of the Nigeria Union of Electricity Employees ( NUEE) and has made enormous sacrifice in the defense of the rights and privileges of workers in that sector and in Nigeria.

In his verified Whatsapp account, he has a white lamb as his Profile. I was initially intrigued by his choice of the white lamb but when I remember his journey from a journalist to becoming the President of the Nigeria Labour Congress, I immediately understood the powers and forces that have combined to propel him to where he has found himself today.

I was compelled to sum it all as the willingness of one to offer himself as a sacrifice for the emancipation of his society and also, wherever he finds himself. This is not just an ordinary sacrifice made anyhow but one made in purity and innocence. It is a true testament of his commitment and determination towards ensuring that he becomes what he wants others to be before he begins to embark on its advocacy.

For me, this offers a crusader the moral high ground to seek a better society.

For me, it is this purity, this refusal to compromise combined with the zeal to make lives better by creating better societies that has become his motive force; his raisond’etre but has also surrounded the choice of others especially those in government of the tools with which they engage him and the NLC at this time.

This to my mind captures the dynamics that has encapsulated his travails as a man committed to changing not just the trade union movement but also changing the dictates of governance by using the platform which the trade union movement has offered him to hold the government accountable and make it more responsive to the yearnings and aspirations of Nigerians.

I still remember vividly his years in journalism specifically in the Vanguard newspapers where he served as the Labour correspondent and in which capacity our paths crossed since he was reporting events in our industry. He spent his time trying to understand the nuances of the trade union movement that he was reporting. To this end he became an active member of the Union and served variously both as secretary and Chairman of Nigeria Union of Journalism ( NUJ) and was also Elected into the National Leadership of the union in 1996 alongside individuals like Lanre Ogundipe and Smart Adeyemi.

He became one with all of our activities and was involved in the struggle of the trade unions to free Nigeria from the clutches of the jackboots of the military. He was an activist journalist without any other intention but the passion to make our nation better like most of us who were involved in the struggle at that time in our nation’s history. The fire of the struggle for the return of the stolen mandate of M. K. O Abiola and for his release from captivity was fought with people like Ajaero and some of us as foot soldiers and ideologues.

He therefore has a rich history of activism horned in the streets of Lagos and around the country devoid of any primordial preachments. He neither saw tribe, tongue nor religion in the struggle.

As a trained Teacher, Journalist, Labour Expert and now a Lawyer, it will be foolhardy for anyone to consider him a push over. What he lacks in physical appearance, he makes up with his inner resoluteness, discipline and intellectual vigour. I have been in many conferences where the Masters of Ceremony would normally introduce him as “the man with small body but big engine.” Men and women who change their societies positively do not come packaged differently.

I have not forgotten that he was incarcerated in jail and was billed to be flown to Abuja with other comrades who were unlucky to have been captured by the Abacha Police in Ilorin during the struggle for Democracy and restoration of Abiola’s mandate. The death of the bespectacled and unsmiling head of state led to his freedom and that of many other comrades in the gulag. His commitment and active participation in that era was totally out of his patriotic fervor and the burning desire for the enthronement of an egalitarian society.

When he left the Vanguard Newspapers and delved into trade unionism which as he told me then was at the insistence and persuasion of the then General Secretary of his Union; late comrade Kiri Kalio; one of the shining lights of the trade union movement of that era. However, I knew that it was not just the persuasion but his quest for a greater platform to continue his pursuit for a better and just Nigeria.

I was therefore not surprised when I heard that he had become the General Secretary of the National Union of Electricity Employees ( NUEE) after some years in service. It was here that his crusading spirit came to the fore and his leadership qualities became evident. He turned a Union that was struggling financially around to a Union that had investments all over the federation through his prudent management of the resources of the Union and his creative handling of the affairs of the Organisation. Some of us witnessed this rise and the repositioning of the Union to become a key player in the nation’s trade union movement all as a result of his insistence in ensuring continuous prudence in managing the Union’s resources.

I have painted the picture of this background for the benefit of those who did not have the privilege of following or monitoring closely events around this patriotic son of Nigeria. This will help in understanding the forces that have risen to dog his footsteps and why they have risen and who they are.

These forces are manifestly those whose interests stand against what comrade Joe Ajaero stands for which is the creation of a Nigeria that is merit- driven and devoid of nepotism but which allows all Nigerians to freely express themselves unleashing their developmental potentials for the benefit of our nation. He has kept on standing for workers and Nigerian masses so, those who are desperately seeking ways to continue exploiting the people would immediately not be at ease with him.