'Labour You betrayed Nigerians’...Balarabe Musa, Sagay, Tam David-West

Former Governor of old Kaduna State, Alhaji Balarabe Musa and legal icon, Prof Itse Sagay (SAN) , have slammed Organised Labour’s leadership for suspending the strike, saying, “they have betrayed Nigerians.”

Said Musa: “Let us understand that labour got the full support of the civil society groups, the people. Calling off the strike half way without consulting with the people, is to humiliate us. Though, to some of us we are not surprised. What we should do is to organize ourselves and fight on. The N97 per litre as surrendered by NLC is unacceptable to Nigerians. ”

On the deployment of soldiers to Lagos, the former governor lambasted the federal government’s decision. “It is unfortunate that all this talk about democracy is a farce, if not why would the military or the police not respect the rights of Nigerians even with their non-violent approach?” he queried.

On his part, Sagay said labour had always betrayed Nigerians, recalling that “they once betrayed us under the leadership of Adam Oshiomhole during President Olusegun Obasanjo’s administration.”

His words: “The agreement with the labour is to return to N65 per litre, no going back. The civil society organisations were ready to carry on as agreed and as usual, in their characteristic manner pulled out without the people’s consent, they betrayed us, am not surprised at all.

Also the former Minister of Petroleum Resources, Prof. Tam David-West, on Monday accused Labour leaders of betraying the masses after agreeing with the Federal Government to peg fuel pump price at N97 per litre.
Labour and their civil society allies had insisted that nothing short of a reversion to the old pump price of N65 per litre would stop the nationwide protests against government’s decision.
However David-West, who had consistently denied that there was fuel subsidy, since, regretted that Labour bent backwards and settled for the new pump price.
The lecturer said, “They have exposed themselves to be suspected, rightly or wrongly, to have been bribed by the government.”

He challenged President Goodluck Jonathan and his ministers to open a debate on the issue.
According to him, both Jonathan and Labour are losers in the new deal. He added that the President was a bad loser, having told the world that the Nigerian economy would collapse should petrol be sold for any price below N141 per litre.
The professor of Virology argued that by ordering a probe into fuel subsidy payments at the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, government had accepted that the amount of money it presented to Nigerians as spending on subsidy was false.
He said, “There is no subsidy. What we are subsidising is corruption and fraud.
“What the labour leaders have done is in bad faith because they have exposed themselves to be suspected to have been bribed by the government. After all, they insisted that there was no going back on N65. Labour had a stronger ground than the government.
“Having lost 15 people to the protest, Labour has betrayed the people’s cause. I repeat that peace is better than war. However, peace without justice is no peace.”
David-West joined Labour leaders to lead protests in Ibadan, the Oyo State capital and addressed rallies.