US embassy cable - 04ABUJA99

UNCLAS ABUJA 000099 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SENSITIVE 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PGOV, ELAB, ASEC, NI 
SUBJECT: APPEALS COURT DOES NOT RULE NATIONAL STRIKE ILLEGAL 
 
SENSITIVE BUT UNCLASSIFIED, NOT FOR PUBLICATION ON THE 
INTERNET OR INTRANET. 
 
1.  (SBU) The Federal Appeals Court in Abuja January 20 did 
not overturn the earlier court ruling allowing the Nigeria 
Labor Council (NLC) to initiate a general strike on January 
21.  The Court dodged the issue of whether the strike would 
be legal, effectively leaving the earlier pro-strike ruling 
in place but not preventing GON action against the strikers. 
Instead of giving a legal ruling, the Court "advised" the 
government to drop its plans to implement a 1.5 Naira per 
liter tax on petroleum products and "advised" Labor to delay 
its strike pending further negotiations with the government. 
 
2.  (SBU) Labor leaders disappeared from the courtroom an 
hour before the decision not to overturn was handed down, on 
the advice of their attorneys, so they could not be found by 
the government for arrest or being served with papers from 
other courts.  "We should not make it easy for the government 
to find them," one attorney said.  The labor leaders and 
their attorneys have been meeting this afternoon to decide 
their next steps. 
 
3.  (U) The public takes the threat of a strike seriously, 
stocking up on food and gasoline, preparing to depart Abuja 
for their homes elsewhere "to be with families," or both, in 
case the strike starts tomorrow.  While the atmosphere is 
tense with anticipation, no one seems to know which way this 
current skirmish will come out.  Throughout the afternoon, 
government and independent radio reports continued giving 
conflicting pictures of the situation, GON figures saying the 
court ruled against the strike and others saying the court 
ruled against the tax.  Neither happened in the court poloff 
witnessed, and in any case the NLC has said it was calling 
the strike not only over the tax but also to roll back 
gasoline prices to 34 Naira per liter (i.e. doing away with 
deregulation). 
 
4.  (SBU) COMMENT:  As with many other issues in Nigeria, we 
will have to wait and see what results on January 21.  The 
Embassy EAC has met to assess the situation, and post will 
proceed as planned the last time a strike was threatened last 
fall (septel). 
Roberts