Governor Nasir El-Rufai of Kaduna State has declared wanted Ayuba Wabba, the Nigeria Labour Congress president, for championing the ongoing five-day warning strike over the state government’s sacking of civil servants.
El-Rufai, in a tweet via his official Twitter handle on Tuesday, promised to handsomely reward individuals with useful information on the whereabouts of the NLC boss and other leaders of the union.
The governor wrote:
Ayuba Wabba & others of @NLCHeadquarters declared wanted for economic sabotage & attacks on public infrastructure under Miscellaneous Offences Act.
Anyone that knows where he is hiding should send a message to @MOJKaduna. KDSG. There will be a handsome reward!
KADUNA UPDATE: Ayuba Wabba & others of @NLCHeadquarters declared wanted for economic sabotage & attacks on public infrastructure under Miscellaneous Offences Act. Anyone that knows where he is hiding should send a message to @MOJKaduna. KDSG. There will be a handsome reward!
— Nasir Ahmad El-Rufai (@elrufai) May 18, 2021
Meanwhile, El-Rufai’s placing of a bounty on Wabba contrasts his handling of banditry in Kaduna.
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Although the governor said that he would not pay ransom to bandits, there was no evidence available in the public that he placed a bounty on bandits ravaging Kaduna.
Speaking over the weekend, the warrant of arrest of Wabba, issued in 2017, subsists over alleged vandalism of government facilities.
The Kaduna government had claimed:
As is appropriate, the security agencies have been notified of the plans of some trade unionists to recruit hoodlums, including from other states, to create a destructive spectacle and further their self-serving narrative about public service jobs and insecurity.
However, going against the governor’s warning on Monday, the union started its five-day warning strike, shutting down all economic activities in Kaduna.
In the meantime, the Nigerian Governors’ Forum has appealed to the NLC to exercise calm and restraint in its engagement with El-Rufai.
