Presidential aide Bayo Onanuga says many members of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) and its affiliate unions enforcing nationwide strike are “supporters of Peter Obi’s Labour Party,” scheming to blackmail and sabotage President Bola Tinubu’s government.

Mr Onanuga, in a post on X, condemned the nationwide strike, which disrupted commercial activities nationwide on Monday.

“It appears labour is playing politics by other means,” said Mr Onanuga. “Many of the affiliates of the two central unions, NLC and TUC, are members and supporters of the Labour Party.”

He added, “They logically bear ill-will and grudges against the Tinubu administration. What is clear is that the issue they claim to be fighting for cannot be resolved by blackmail or sabotage; they cannot even be resolved by the federal government unilaterally.”

Lamenting the disruptions occasioned by the nationwide strike, Mr Onanuga said, “Labour is harming the Nigerian people they claim to be fighting for. Today, many sick Nigerians cannot access medical care at government hospitals. Not even those with critical medical conditions.”

Last week, NLC and its affiliate unions declared an indefinite nationwide strike over the federal government’s failure to meet their demands for a minimum wage increment a year after fuel subsidy removal, which triggered food inflation and cost of living.

The strike saw public institutions, hospitals, airports, ministries, and agencies shut down on Monday.

NLC is demanding N494,000 minimum wage based on spiking cost of living, while the federal government is offering to pay N60,000.