THE Nigeria Labour Congress, NLC, has said its confidence in the nation’s judiciary remained unshakable.

The union insisted it could not disparage the judiciary in any circumstances, let alone the National Industrial Court of Nigeria, NICN, that it held in high esteem.

It will be recalled that since NLC issued a statement last Tuesday expressing concerns over how some judges gave interim orders for injunction made by way of ex parte application, there had been claims in some quarters that the labour movement was rubbishing the judicial system.

But in a statement, entitled, “We will not disparage the judiciary,” NLC in a statement by its President, Joe Ajaero, said: “When we issued a statement last week expressing our displeasure over the casual manner some judges over the years have sought to hamstring organised labour from exercising its right to free speech and free association and lawful protest through interim orders for injunction made by way of ex parte applications, our intention was not to disparage the judiciary, let alone the National Industrial Court of Nigeria which we hold in high esteem.

“We at the Nigeria Labour Congress want to state unambiguously that our faith in the judiciary remains unshakeable.

“It shall continue to remain for us and the ordinary person the bastion of justice and refuge from storms, hailstones and floods.

“We will continue to respect our courts, honour our judicial officers as well as create value around the institution of the judiciary as part of the process of sustaining our democracy.

“In doing so, we are guided by the well-known credo that the only alternative to a credible judiciary are mob culture or tyranny which we are better off without.

“Our defence, protection and projection of the judiciary is consistent with our beliefs in the culture of law and order and has come a long way.

“We want to re-affirm that in spite of the fact that the NICN quite often does not rule in our favour, we have a lot of respect for the court.”