Nigerian Trade Unionist, Communist Killed

The late Olaitan Oyerinde was a student activist with the National Association of Nigerian Students (NANS) during the 1980s. He was a committed marxist-leninist who was appointed as an assistant to the Edo state governor., a photo by Pan-African News Wire File Photos on Flickr.

For Olaitan Oyerinde: the communist internationalist

By Chijioke Uwasomba
Nigerian Nation

In the wee hours of Friday, May 4, 2012, merchants of death struck in Benin and wickedly and callously murdered Comrade Olaitan Oyerinde, who until the said date was the Principal Private Secretary to the Governor of Edo State, Comrade Adams Oshiomole. As at the time of this write-up there is nothing to suggest that the police will live up to the people’s expectation and unravel the mystery behind this latest brutal killing of one of Nigeria’s finest ideologues and patriots. After all, there had been similar killings in the past without the police rising to the occasion. One hopes that both Comrade Olaitan’s killers and their principals will be unmasked and punished for their heinous crime.

Comrade Olaitan was not born with a silver spoon but grew up with good training to become a well-sought after intellectual, thinker, researcher, organiser, strategist, writer, journalist, mobilizer, labour activist and pro-democracy advocate. In the mid 80s when military dictatorship was at its brutal worst, the National Association of Nigerian Students (NANS) was one of the patriotic organisations that the military junta did everything within its powers to destroy. NANS was no doubt a militant and progressive association whose charter trenchantly articulated values, ideas, views and positions which in every material particular were nationalistic, patriotic, anti-imperialist, democratic and internationalist. Even when the association was banned by the powers that be, it remained vociferously active exposing the hypocrisy of the military and insisting on the best form of governance for the country.

Those who are strutting about today “enjoying” the so – called dividends of democracy may not realise that there was an organisation of Nigerian students which gave itself the mandate to champion the ennobling causes and concerns aimed at promoting pan-Nigerian ideals and other far-reaching goals for national development. The platform provided opportunities that deepened nationalist feelings and thoroughly de-emphasised those things that were considered antithetical to national unity and cohesion. Students under the aegis of NANS moved from one part of the country to another and in the process understood the needs of the country. Long-lasting friendships were cultivated. Leadership trainings and other relevant exposures needed in life were taught and acquired by those who subscribed to the rich tenets and life- building activities of NANS.

It is with this background that one can understand the emergence and insertion of Comrade Olaitan in the post-colony called Nigeria. As a Mass communication student of the University of Lagos, Comrade Olaitan belonged to a cell that aligned itself squarely with the politics of the National Association of the Nigerian Students. At the national level, many of these cells from their various campuses formed a national platform that provided credible and revolutionary leadership to NANS.

That body was the Popular Youth Movement of Nigeria (PYMN). The PYMN was a Marxist – Leninist organisation through and through. NANS remained what it was – a truly credible organisation between 1980 and 1992 when the association was deviously handed over to reactionary by a rival revolutionary group.

One notes that the leadership of NANS under the control and foresight of the PYMN was credible, popular, patriotic and aligned itself and its politics with the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) – an association of University lecturers which was formed the same year and place as NANS; the Nigerian Labour Congress (NLC); the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA); the Nigerian Medical Association (NMA) and other civil and workers organisations in Nigeria. NANS’ communiqués were crafted in a manner that sent government and its agents jittery and paranoid. Of course, this was not surprising considering the fact that the leaders exuded confidence and sure – footedness arising from their high cerebral architecture.

Comrade Olaitan, on many occasions for many years was the typist, the stenographer and the “administrative” Secretary of NANS. As a Mass Communication student, he had learnt the art of typing which was a compulsory course for students of Mass Communication in those days. Some of us were thrilled by his typing skills and good command of the English language for he was a strong member of the Communiqué – drafting Committee. In those days, the computer was a rarity and the typewriter itself was mainly owned by institutions and groups.

In those days, most students knew what they wanted and prepared themselves for such exertions. Having been imbued with revolutionary activism while in school, Comrade Olaitan had no problem working at various times with the Committee for the Defence of Human Rights (CDHR), Campaign for Democracy (CD), Iron and Steel Senior Staff Association of Nigeria (ISSSAN) and Senior Staff Consultative Association of Nigeria (SSCAN) which metamorphosed into the Trade Union Congress (TUC) and the Nigerian Labour Congress (NLC). It was from the NLC that Adams Oshiomole noticed the star in Olaitan and wasted no time in taking him to Edo State when he became the governor of the state.

All the encomiums being paid to our late comrade attest to the irrefutable fact that he was indeed a man full of useful energy and he did mobilise it in the defence and promotion of the interests of the working peoples of Nigeria in particular and the global community in general.

Adieu !!!!

Uwasomba teaches in the Department of English, Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, Nigeria.


Citation of the late Olaitan Oyerinde

By Our Reporter 10/05/2012 01:38:00
Nigerian Nation

Very few Nigerians are privileged to be entrusted with political appointments in states other than their own. One of these few Nigerians is Comrade Olaitan Oyerinde, the former Principal Secretary to the Governor of Edo State.

He was born on December 7, 1968 to Alhaji Azeez Oyerinde, a journalist, and Mrs. Comfort Oyerinde, a stenographer. He is married to Funke Oyerinde and they are blessed with four children.

Olaitan attended the University of Lagos where he obtained a Bachelor of Science degree in Mass Communications. As a student, he was deeply involved in radical activism and helped to provide leadership for groups like the Thomas Sankara Movement (TSM), Youth Solidarity on Southern Africa (YUSSA), Patriotic Youth Movement of Nigeria (PYMN), the University of Lagos Students’ Union and the National Association of Nigerian Students (NANS).

In 1989, after the anti-SAP protest organised by the Students’ Movement, he was detained for two months under Decree 2 along with other NANS leaders.

On the verge of graduation, Olaitan’s NYSC Call-up letter was seized by the university authorities allegedly for a pending disciplinary case related to another protest. But a court granted an injunction, which enabled him to proceed for the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC).

Again in 1991, he was detained after another national students protest purportedly for harbouring the NANS President and a few other students leaders, who had been declared wanted by the security agencies.

Oyerinde started his trade union career in 1990 when he was appointed Assistant General Secretary by the Iron and Steel Senior Staff Association of Nigeria, an affiliate of the Senior Staff Consultative Association of Nigeria, which metamorphosed into the Trade Union Congress of Nigeria.

At this point, he became the Lagos State Chairman of the Campaign for Democracy under the national leadership of the late Dr Beko Ransome-Kuti. He was also executive director, Centre for Workers’ Rights (CWR) and member, Nigerian Tenants Association (NTA).

Olaitan left the Iron and Steel Senior Staff Association of Nigeria as a deputy general secretary after 10 years to join the services of the Nigeria Labour Congress when Comrade Adams Oshiomhole assumed its leadership.

In the NLC, Olaitan had been head of the departments of Industrial Relations and International Relations as well as the Special Assistant to the NLC President.

He established a reputation for thoroughness, uncommon brilliance, deep commitment to the values of the trade union movement and capacity for creative thinking and initiative. This explains his rapid rise in the NLC.

Like other comrades in the Labour movement, he was involved in the electioneering campaign of Comrade Adams Oshiomhole and co-authored the manifesto entitled My Vision, My Mission.

In November 2008, following his victory, Comrade Oshiomhole sought and obtained the NLC’s consent to release Comrade Olaitan to work with his administration. Olaitan resumed as the Special Adviser, Special Duties but was appropriately re-designated as the Principal Secretary to the Governor/Head of the Governor’s Secretariat.

Olaitan has so far demonstrated extraordinary devotion, well-acknowledged competence and a passionate loyalty to his labour constituency. He attended to all comrades with so much enthusiasm. Indeed, it is usually said that you could never reach Comrade Olaitan with any problem, personal or official, without getting tangible results.