NLC Condemns CNN's Call For Military Take Over, Vows To Go On Strike

With the walls unquestionably tumbling down, the talk of a fledgling democracy had been viewed a long time ago and nothing seems to be going in the favor of a sound democratic fabric. This is republished here, culled from the Vanguard Newspapers.

VANGUARD

NLC condemns CNN's call for military take over, vows to go on strike

Monday, 11th February, 2002
By Lemmy Ughegbe

ABUJA, FCT—THE Nigerian Labour Congress (NLC) has vowed to embark on a
general strike should there be an unconstitutional take over of government by
the military even as it decried the Cable News Network’s (CNN) suggestion
that Nigeria would benefit more from military dictatorship.

The NLC President, Comrade Adams Oshiomhole made this position known at a press
conference held in Abuja.

Comrade Oshiomhole said the days of military rule had visited enormous problems
on the nation and as such it was not an attractive option of governance.

He therefore condemned CNN for suggesting that Nigeria would be better off in
the dark days of military misrule, describing it as "criminal." According to
him, "we all know that military rule created enormous problems and we are still
trying to clear the mess, so we cannot fall for the bogey that dictatorship is
glamorous. "We cannot forget that military rule is about the dark ages of
detentions without trial just for disagreeing with official view, it is about a
defeated judiciary and a castrated polity.

"Military rule is about forcing some of our brightest minds into political
exile, the fleeing of the country and destruction of social forces.

"Nigerians cannot forget that military rule aborted the democratic process
thirty six years ago, created the civil war in which over a million of us
perished and squandered our resources under the prodigal claim of Gowon that
"money is not our problem."

Comrade Oshiomhole noted that even though Nigerians were yet to reap the
dividends of democracy it was wrong to call for an abortion of the democratic
structure through a military take over. He pointed out that the military was
responsible for the spate of violence being witnessed all over the country
through the various militia as these militia were created under military rule.

"...The various militia in the country like the OPC, APC and Egbesu were created
under the military and the violence we experience today flow mainly from such
groups and the poverty over half of the population face are caused by the
military."

He also observed that an incontestable fact is that crises such as the Tiv-Jukun
clashes religious riots in Kano and Kafanchan, the Zango Kataf mayhem, the
Aguleri and Umuleri wars and the Ogoni protests were all under the military,
asserting that "military rule is not synonymous with political stability or
peace."