By Haruna Salami
The National Association of Plant Operators (NAPO) has dragged the Federal Government of Nigeria, the Liquefied Natural Gas Limited, NLNG, and the security agencies to court, claiming the sum of N500 billion damages over alleged attack on its members working in construction companies in Port Harcourt few years ago.
In the Court papers which was made available to journalists in Abuja over the weekend by the President General of NAPO, Comrade Harold Bestowe, indicated that NAPO in suit number: SUIT NO: NICN/ABJ/165/2024 is demanding several reliefs including a declaration by the court that it has a right to form, register and operate as a trade union.
The union claimed that the Federal Government at various times impended on “its right to form, register and operate as a trade union, and arresting, torturing and intimidating its members, the National Association of Plant Operators, NAPO”, a development that was in breach of the provision of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, especially the right to associate.
The lawsuit which was filed at the Abuja Judicial Division of the National Industrial Court of Nigeria has NAPO’s President General, Harold Benstowe, and five other members of the union suing for themselves and on behalf of members, seeking several reliefs to mitigate the effect of torture of workers who are members of the union by security agents on the order of contractors in Port Harcourt.
The defendants in the suit are, “the Minister of Labour and Employment, Registrar of Trade Unions, National Union of Civil Engineering, Construction Furniture and Wood Workers (NUCECFWW), Construction and Civil Engineering Senior Staff Association (CCESSA), and Trade Union Congress of Nigeria, TUC.
“Others are the Nigeria Liquefied Natural Gas Limited, NLNG, its contractors; Daewoo Engineering and Construction Nigeria Limited, DECN, and Saipem Contracting Nigeria Limited, as well as the Nigeria Police Force, NPF, Police Service Commission, PSC, Department of State Security DSS, and the Nigerian Army.
According to the court documents, the suit is brought pursuant to Order 3 Rule 3 of the National Industrial Court of Nigeria (Civil Procedure) Rules 2017 and under the inherent jurisdiction of the court.
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