COMRADE Oyekan Arije was a man of many parts and he played his roles creditably well with much commitment. He thereby distinguished himself in labour activism, administrator in public service, church leadership, community leadership, rights activism and a practising politician (of a different type).
Comrade Oyekan Arije hardly hid his background as a native of Mohin Kingdom in Ondo State as he was actively involved in the local politics of the community for development. Early in life, he got employment in the civil service of the Western Region Government where he rose from the ranks to the topmost cadre as a senior civil servant later in the newly created Ondo State in 1976.
Despite the travails Comrade Oyekan Arije passed through in the hands of Olumilua-led government, decades after, he came back to the public service to become head of the Ondo State Civil Service Commission meant to address labour issues related to employment. There is no doubt that Comrade Arije best fitted into this position as it amounted to the continuation of his service to the working class in the labour movement. To his credit he performed wonderfully well on this position.
One remarkable thing in his life was that he had a critical mind of evaluating things around him. This was further reinforced by the trade union movement that he belonged as a civil servant. He studied industrial relations on scholarship in Eastern Europe. This was where he gained enough knowledge about socialism and trade unionism. In the true tradition of radical labour movement, he learnt to combine theory with practice. He therefore stood to fight for the best interest of the working class against oppression for the rest of his life.
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He became prominent as a leader with the trade union reform of the 1970s while in the newly created Ondo State in 1976. He was the first NLC chairman in the state in 1980. I personally knew him since 1978 as he usually visited my boss, Mr. Akinola in our office, Public Complaints Commission, while he was working with the Ministry of Trade, Commerce and Industry behind our new office at Ondo Bye-pass, Akure. At the time, only a few of the ministries and departments of government were accommodated in the old Ondo State secretariat. It was a decade later I came to know him closely as a comrade out to serve the interest of the oppressed and exploited working people. He also stood to fight for social justice.
He left a formidable legacy in the trade union movement in Ondo State as the NLC chair and one is very proud of that. He was an intelligent and proficient trade unionist as well as a public servant who never joked with his work despite trade unionism taking a lot of his time. He would not hesitate to work additional hours to meet the loss hours in the course of his trade union activities.
His promotion to the top senior staff cadre in the civil service was in order to get him out of the trade union activism but this did not discourage him. Nevertheless, he chose the path of a new cause in organising the senior staff association, as this was covered by the constitution that guaranteed freedom of association, movement and speech for all citizens. It was only decades thereafter that the Trade Unions Act of 2003 conferred legitimacy to the senior staff association, Trade Union Congress as the second labour centre in addition to the Nigeria Labour Congress.
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He was not allowed to reach the expected retirement age of 60 years before he was made to embark on compulsory retirement by the government led by Evangelist Olumilua. The reason for such repression against a leading trade unionist in the state could not be dissociated from the agitation by the workers for a new minimum wage in order to raise their salaries and allowances to meet with the extant trend of inflation responsible for high cost of living experienced by the workers whose income could not take them far in the month. Unfortunately, instead of the government addressing this question, they took solace in mobilising the friends of the ruling elite such as the obas, traditional chiefs, church leaders and Islamic clerics, in order to use them against the workers interest.
He led and helped to facilitate the establishment of National Conscience Party and Labour Party in the state. He also collaborated with the rights groups such as Committee for the Defence of Human rights (CDHR). His relationships with the youths was fascinating and encouraging as he served the purpose of motivation to them. A good example was the case of Ikere Patriotic Youth Club that he always found time to attend their yearly educational programme as their guest lecturer. This sustained quality of defending workers cause was the very reason the Labour Militant (Democratic Socialist Movement) organised a programme to celebrate his 60th birthday at the Press Centre, Akure in 1998.
In pursuing this mission, at the meeting with these religious and traditional leaders, the governor turned himself to a class teacher with blackboard in the front to teach them why he could not pay the minimum wage as demanded by the workers. The trade unions, on their own part, proved wrong all the arguments by the government and workers in the state were fully mobilised to back up their agitation without surrendering despite propaganda machinery of the government against such legitimate demand.
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Despite the travails Comrade Oyekan Arije passed through in the hands of Olumilua-led government, decades after, he came back to the public service to become head of the Ondo State Civil Service Commission meant to address labour issues related to employment. There is no doubt that Comrade Arije best fitted into this position as it amounted to the continuation of his service to the working class in the labour movement. To his credit he performed wonderfully well on this position.
There was never a dull moment in the life of Comrade Oyekan Arije from the beginning to the time he passed away. On retirement, he was able to fulfil all righteousness to write series of his memoirs and autobiography. Right from the time he was the chairman of NLC in the state and thereafter, he became a pool of attraction to all comrades coming to Ondo State and with them he worked as a collective in advancing the cause of the working people in the state. Few of these comrades included Comrades Femi Aborisade, Chris Fajemifo, Remi Ogunlana, Chima Ubani, Samson Oniyelu, E. E. Okijiola, Prof. Bayo Aborisade, Dr Doyin Odebowale.
He led and helped to facilitate the establishment of National Conscience Party and Labour Party in the state. He also collaborated with the rights groups such as Committee for the Defence of Human rights (CDHR). His relationships with the youths was fascinating and encouraging as he served the purpose of motivation to them. A good example was the case of Ikere Patriotic Youth Club that he always found time to attend their yearly educational programme as their guest lecturer. This sustained quality of defending workers cause was the very reason the Labour Militant (Democratic Socialist Movement) organised a programme to celebrate his 60th birthday at the Press Centre, Akure in 1998.
As a religious leader, he collaborated with others in re-enacting the political activism of the early history of Christianity. Bishop Gbonigi personified and acted as the face of the body. The group played active role in the cause of the June 12 movement and thereafter better than some of the conventional politicians in the state.
Comrade Olamosu writes from Centre for Social Policy and Labour Research (SOPLAR), Signs & Wonders Shopping Complex, Ekotedo-Iyalobe, Dugbe, Ibadan, and can be reached via +234 812 504 8832.
