Oshiomhole Met With Babangida, Obasanjo To Increase Fuel Price – Sowore Alleges

Nigerian human rights activist and convener of the #RevolutionNow movement, Omoyele Sowore, has criticized former Edo State governor and ex-president of the Nigerian Labour Congress (NLC), Adams Oshiomhole, describing him as an “Agaracha” labour leader who, according to Sowore, was never a true activist.

Sowore made these remarks during a recent podcast with Glitch Africa Studios posted on YouTube.

Sowore, a former presidential candidate of the African Action Congress (AAC), claimed that Oshiomhole had previously collaborated with Nigeria’s former military head of state, Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida, to implement Nigeria’s first fuel price increase in 1992.

According to Sowore, this move revealed Oshiomhole’s lack of genuine activism.

Sowore argued that Oshiomhole’s actions had consistently contradicted the principles of true activism, despite his image as a labour leader.

He claimed that the former NLC president’s support for fuel price increases showed he prioritized alliances with government leaders over the interests of the Nigerian people.

Sowore said, “Oshiomhole was never an activist. You can check this out anywhere. In 1992, Oshiomhole and one Pascal Bafial, a former NLC President, had a deal with Babangida to increase fuel price, 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 the 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.”

Speaking further, Sowore said that during the time of former President Olusegun Obasanjo, Oshiomhole would meet Obasanjo and ask him to increase the fuel price, saying, “We will fight small and you will bring it back to where it is supposed to be. You are happy, I’m happy. That was what Oshiomhole was doing.”

He said, “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 me was going in and out of DSS detention at that time. If they detained him, it must have been an arranged detention.”