It will not be inappropriate to say Adams Oshiomhole does not rank as the Number 1 labour leader in Nigerian history. That description is ascribed to Michael Imoudu, who incidentally also hailed from Edo State. Imoudu is easily remembered for his selflessness and courage to confront the colonial authority in the land. He led the Cost of Living Allowance (COLA) strike of the 1940s and is acknowledged for refusing to compromise the interest of workers.

When various labour unions coalesced into the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) in 1978, leadership and the duty of giving it form and content fell on Hassan Sunmonu who is believed to have discharged the responsibility creditably and is thus respected till date. In difficult times, Sunmonu is still invited to wade into matters affecting the welfare of workers and promotion of unity. There have also been leaders like Wahab Goodluck and Dapo Fatogun who played their parts.

However, in contemporary trade unionism, the name Adams Oshiomhole stands out. He is known to have been vibrant, dynamic and charismatic. He rose from the shop floor of the textile industry in Kaduna to executive position in the National Union of Textile, Garment and Tailoring Workers Union for decades. He was general secretary and moving spirit behind the vibrancy of the union until 1999 when the NLC elected him president of the congress.

History threw him into the national limelight at a period that marked the inception of the Fourth Republic during which Olusegun Obasanjo presided over national political affairs like an emperor. He stood up to look into the retired General’s eyes when he had to. He jumped when he had to make the point since he is somehow challenged by height, punched the air when he had to and ran when he had to show that at 56, he had the energy to fight for all employees in the country. He made it known that fighting for workers meant more than begging for minimum wage. He got involved in discussing the polity.

The only side of the man born in Iyamho, Etsako West Local Government Area of present day Edo West on April 4, 1943 known before he served out his tenure as NLC President in 2007 was labour activism. As fish is not known to have life outside water; Oshiomhole was not expected to have prominence outside labour circles, galvanising action for strike and negotiating with government at the federal and subnational levels. But, soon after he left that office, he chose to convert his social activism capital to political relevance. He plunged into the Edo State political scene, contesting the governorship election that year. At the announcement of that dream, it appeared like a joke as he had only the largely irrelevant Labour Party as his constituency, but, in no time, the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) saw the sense in forming a strategic alliance with the trade unionist that had become a household name in the country. So was he adopted as ACN candidate for the 2007 Edo State governorship election?

The fighter in him came to the fore when the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) chairman under Professor Maurice Iwu declared his opponent who ran on the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) platform winner of the election. Oshiomhole fought tooth and nail until he got the nod of the judiciary to claim the office. So he started another phase of his variegated active life. For eight years, he was governor and all, except his political opponents, agreed that he made lasting impact on the scene. Prior to his emergence, there were godfathers who dictated the pace in the state. Oshiomhole took on and displaced them. He changed the face of the state schools and education system, embarked on an ambitious physical planning and audaciously increased the minimum wage beyond the amount fixed at the national level. He was thus rewarded with a second term in 2012.

At the end of his tenure as governor in 2016, national leaders of the All Progressives Congress (APC) into which the ACN had fused spotted him as a good candidate to replace his kinsman, John Odigie-Oyegun, but the sail was rough from the beginning. The flurry of judicial challenge to his leadership, and loss of the president’s support hounded the party chairman out of office but with the bumbling caretaker committee, some observers regard Adams as its ghostly tormentor.

As he turned 70, he has shown willingness to move to the Senate to represent Edo North. Would that be the beginning of another phase of his life? Could he regain his political dominance of the state lost to his former aide, Godwin Obaseki? What next at 70? Beyond his abundant physical energy, does Oshiomhole have the fire in the belly for a new phase of political leadership? The days and years ahead will provide the answers.

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