By our correspondant
Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) has issued a stern warning to security agencies and alleged political actors, declaring that the country would be shut down through an indefinite nationwide strike if any of its members or peaceful protesters are attacked during the National Day of Protest and Mourning scheduled for Tuesday, December 17, 2025.
In a strongly worded statement signed by its Acting General Secretary, Comrade Benson Upah, the NLC said it had received “credible and disturbing intelligence” suggesting that armed thugs and political hirelings were being mobilised to infiltrate and violently disrupt the planned nationwide protest.
According to the Congress, the protest is a legitimate and peaceful response by Nigerian workers and citizens to the worsening insecurity across the country, marked by widespread killings, kidnappings, abductions and attacks on communities, amid what it described as government indifference and failure to protect lives.
Upah said, “Should a single worker, comrade, or citizen be harmed by these thugs or through escalated repression tomorrow, the Nigeria Labour Congress will not hesitate to declare an immediate, comprehensive, and indefinite nationwide strike.
“All wheels of production, all services, and every sector of the national economy will be shut down completely and indefinitely. When the ruling class moves to crush a peaceful protest against their failure, they unwittingly reveal their truly undemocratic tendencies.”
“The action tomorrow is not a mere procession,” the NLC said. “It is a collective act of grief, a roar of despair from the oppressed, and a democratic demand for the fundamental right to life and security.”
The labour centre lamented the growing toll of insecurity on its members, noting that teachers, farmers, miners and artisans have increasingly become victims of violent attacks across the country. It warned that any attempt to violently repress the protest would amount to terrorism against Nigerian citizens.
“We name this plot for what it is: further enabled terrorism against Nigerian citizens,” the statement read, adding that any attack on peaceful protesters would be regarded as a direct declaration of war on the Nigerian working class and its allies.
The NLC said security agencies, particularly the Nigeria Police Force, had already been formally notified of the protest and its peaceful nature, stressing that it was their constitutional duty to protect protesters and guarantee citizens’ rights to freedom of assembly and expression.
Addressing workers, the unemployed, students, traders and other Nigerians affected by insecurity, the Congress urged participants to remain calm, disciplined and peaceful, while refusing to be intimidated or provoked.
“Solidarity is our shield,” the NLC said.
