By Our correspondent
September 24, 2015 – The Trade Union Congress of Nigeria (TUC) has condemned the abduction on Monday of former Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF) and Afenifere chieftain, Chief Olu Falae, from his farm in Ilado village, Akure North Area of Ondo State by a group of people numbering over 20.
Falaye was kidnapped on Monday September 21, the day he clocked 77.
In a statement jointly signed by its President, Comrade Bobboi Bala Kaigama, and Secretary General, Comrade (Barr.) Musa Lawal, the Congress called on the Federal Government and all security agencies to, as a matter of urgency, rise up to the challenge, rescue the former SGF, and fish out perpetrators of the dastardly act.
The statement lamented that the abduction of the elder statesman and one of the most revered leaders of Afenifere in the South-West is an ominous and intolerable development. “There appears to be an ugly trend going on now. The other day it was the wife of the Deputy Managing Director of The Sun Newspapers, Mrs. Toyin Nwosu, that was kidnapped, and now it’s a 77 year old Falae who meritoriously served this nation. And their kidnappers have something in common: each group demanded N100 million as ransom for their respective captors,” added the TUC.
According to the labour centre, “It is unacceptable that while the vast majority of Nigerians are patriotic and resolved to redeem the image of the country, a few miscreants are bent on complicating issues for us all. At a time when we are beginning to celebrate victory after victory in the war against terrorism and insurgency, another evil is cropping up and spreading like whirlwind. Kidnapping started in the Niger Delta then spread to the South East, and now the South West seems to have caught that unholy bug. Indeed there appears to be no safe place anywhere in the country,” bemoaned the TUC.
The Congress charged the Federal Government and its security operatives to do more, noting that they cannot afford to sit idly by and watch Nigerians being endangered, embarrassed and mortified by criminal-minded people. “The government must discharge its responsibility of protecting the citizenry. In this instance, we insist that no harm should be allowed to befall the elder-statesman,” the workers warned.
