Suspended Delta State Chairman of Trade Union Congress (TUC), Comrade Myke Arinze, Monday, said the suspension notice placed on him was laughable, ridiculous and scandalous.

In a two page Press Statement made available to journalists in Asaba, Arinze said the suspension order was a show of shame, describing it as akin to “the trappings of a military coup de’tat.

Comrade Arinze made the declaration against the backdrop of the suspension order placed on him by the National leadership of the union which ordered him to surrender the union’s property under his custody to the secretariat.

According to him, “it is even more ridiculous that a Chairman of an affiliate union (where we have about 16 affiliates in the state council) could wake up, gather a couple of miserable looking and misguided individuals he called a “SEC-in-Session” and declare a forceful change of the state council. For all intent and purpose, this is a grand design to balkanise TUC in Delta State.

“Let me further emphasise that the so-called letter being brandished by these elements is nothing but a frivolous document procured from the black market with a clear intent to cause disaffection in the state, and bring the state council to public ridicule.”

Arinze said all workers in Delta State, organised labour and the state government should completely discountenance the purported forceful takeover of his leadership, describing it as a clear somersault by a handful of deluded elements.

In a two-page statement made available to journalists in Asaba, Arinze said: “Congress is of the view that this show of shame is a deliberate attempt to embarrass the state government and give the erroneous impression that the TUC in the state is in disarray, whereas we have collectively built a formidable labour centre and has undoubtedly taken the state council to unprecedented height in the state.

“Congress wishes to reassure all workers of our continuous commitment in furthering their common interest and to leverage on the existing synergy between the TUC and the NLC in the state, in order to consolidate on the massive gains we have made in the state.”

Arinze described the action of the individuals who signed the purported suspension notice as misguided individuals who have given misleading information that a subsisting state Executive and the Chairman have been sacked.

While calling on Delta workers to jettison the suspension notice, he pledged his commitment to support the new government in its drive to ensure economic and sociopolitical development of Delta State.