Rivers Crisis: NLC, oil workers threaten as CPC accuses Presidency of complicity.

Trade Union Congress of Nigeria, TUC, described the fracas in Rivers House as unparliamentary. The congress, in a statement by President, Mr. Bobboi Kaigama and General Secretary, Musa Lawal, said while Nigerians were yet to recover from the shock occasioned by the Nigeria Governors’ Forum, NGF, crisis, another one was coming from Rivers’ lawmakers. The statement said, “it was sad that the world watched agape as two factions in the assembly openly engaged in fisticuffs and used dangerous weapons. “The spectacle of honourable legislators turned pugilists can best be described as very dishonourable and a show of shame. They are proving that politics in Nigeria is seen more as a most lucrative business than a call to service.” The Nigeria Labour Congress, NLC, called on political actors in the Rivers crisis to “look at the bigger picture, which is the future of Nigeria’s democracy.” In a statement by its Vice President, Issa Aremu, said: President Jonathan should avoid a degeneration to the dark discredited era of former President Olusegun Obasanjo during which some states were under siege; a Governor was kidnapped (Anambra) and two governors of Bayelsa and Plateau states serially removed at gun-points.” National Union of Textile, Garment and Tailoring Workers of Nigeria, NUTGTWN, said it was concerned and alarmed about the worsening political crisis in Rivers State and described as avoidable and unnecessary Tuesday’s violence in the State House of Assembly. The Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior Staff Association of Nigeria, PENGASSAN, said in view of the mayhem in the Rivers State House of Assembly and the state of fears pervading Rivers state, it would be forced to withdraw its members from the state, if the security situation did not improve.