Nigerian human rights activist and convener of the #RevolutionNow movement, Omoyele Sowore, has criticized former Edo State governor, Adams Oshiomhole, describing him as an “Agaracha” labour leader who was never a true activist, despite his claims to the contrary.
Sowore made these remarks during an appearance on a podcast hosted by Glitch Africa Studios, on YouTube.
The presidential candidate of the African Action Congress argued that Oshiomhole had a history of compromising with Nigeria’s military leadership, citing a 1992 agreement between Oshiomhole and former military head of state Ibrahim Babangida, which facilitated the first fuel price increase in the country.
Sowore said, “Oshiomhole was never an activist. You can check this out anywhere. In 1992, Oshiomhole and Pascal Bafial, a former NLC President, had a deal with Babangida to increase fuel prices and supported it.
“I did a press conference where we named him as an enemy of students because of what he did when they first started the whole fuel price increase, Oshiomhole was part of it.
“Oshiomhole was never part of the pro-democracy movement. He was one of the few labour leaders during Abacha’s time who was living in Abuja when all the activists had run away from this country.
“I have said this several times, what Oshiomhole was doing at the period we are describing was what we call organised outrage.”
Recalling events from 1992, Sowore stated that under his leadership, the National Association of Nigerian Students held a world press conference in which they named Oshiomhole an “enemy of students” for his role in supporting the controversial fuel price hike.
The activist also claimed that during the presidency of Olusegun Obasanjo, Oshiomhole would meet with the president to negotiate fuel price hikes, offering to “fight small” in return for temporary reductions.
Sowore stressed that within activist circles, it was well-known that Oshiomhole’s role in Nigerian labour history was one of compromise rather than resistance.
“He can challenge me that I said this. In fact, when Abiola’s election was annulled, part of the places the students invaded was the NLC secretariat in Yaba because they were in bed with the military, Pascal Bafial and Oshiomhole were the labour leaders.
“He has been doing labour leadership for a long time. They were the part of the Labour movement that sold out. Frank Kokori who was in PENGASAN were the original people in labour who really shut down the country and they were arrested and kept in detention.”
Sowore questioned, “Why did nobody arrest and detain Oshiomhole? Even I was going in and out of DSS detention at that time. If they detained him, it must have been an arranged detention.
“When you are talking about real labour leaders, don’t mention Oshiomhole. It is a secret within our circles that everybody knows Oshiomhole to be an ‘Agaracha’ labour leader.”
