Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) says Joe Ajaero, its president, was brutalised in Imo state.

The NLC said Ajaero was beaten and blindfolded immediately after he was arrested by security operatives.

Earlier on Wednesday, Ajaero was reportedly picked up from the Imo council secretariat of the NLC by heavily armed police officers.

Denying the arrest, the police command in Imo said the NLC president was taken into protective custody to avoid being lynched by a mob.

Reacting to the incident, Benson Upah, media head of the NLC, in a statement, said the phones and personal belongings taken from the NLC president have not been returned.

“Immediately after his arrest, he was beaten up and blindfolded and taken to an unknown destination where more brutalisation took place, sometimes with bottles,” the statement reads.

“Contact was made with Congress President, Ajaero this evening around 1530 hours at the police hospital in Owerri from where he was taken to Federal Medical Centre, Owerri where he is receiving medical attention.

“Thoroughly brutalized, his right eye at the time of contact was completely shut.

“His phones, money and other personal effects were taken off him and have not been returned to him.”

The Cable