AFP. 16 January 2002. Nigerian court declares strike illegal, charges labour leaders; Most Nigerian manufacturers affected by strike: employers; Nigerian general strike turns Lagos into ghost town.
ABUJA and LAGOS -- A federal high court has declared the general strike under way in Nigeria to be illegal, backing an earlier finding by the government, as the strike's leader was charged with incitement and unlawful assembly. Justice Mohammed Saleh, chief judge of the federal high court in Abuja, said the strike which was launched Wednesday by the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) was "not legal." "I hereby declare that the strike called ... (is) not legal and hence its continuation is hereby declared illegal," he said. Earlier, NLC President Adams Oshiomhole and 10 other union activists were charged before a magistrates' court with incitement, unlawful assembly, criminal conspiracy, and disturbance of the public peace, court officials told AFP. Adams was immediately released on bail on self-recognition and the other 10 were released on a bail of a combined total of 10,000 naira (89 dollars). Most Nigerian manufacturers were affected by the country's general strike Wednesday, with widespread support for the action forcing factories to close, an employers' organisation said Wednesday. "The strike called by the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) has affected a lot of establishments. Almost 100 percent of our members in Lagos (the commercial capital) are affected," Olawale Akinpelu, president of the Manufacturers Association of Nigeria (MAN), told AFP. Economic activity was paralyzed in most areas of the commercial capital with factories, banks, filling stations and the main port, west Africa's largest, all closed, frustrated industrialists said. In Ikorodu, on the northern outskirts, youths burned tyres and tried to block roads, but no violence was reported from elsewhere in the city. Armed policemen took up positions in some trouble-prone parts of the city, from Mile Two to Mushin and Obalende. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Barry Stoller http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ProletarianNews
