NUGLOW MOURNS NLC GENERAL SECRETARY EMMANUEL UGBOAJA, BALOGUN RECOUNTS YEARS OF COMRADESHIP
The National Union of Gaming and Lottery Workers (NUGLOW) has mourned the death of the General Secretary of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), Comrade Emmanuel Ugboaja, describing him as an “irrepressible working-class soldier” whose contribution to Nigeria's labour and democratic struggles would not be forgotten.
In a tribute signed by the Deputy General Secretary of NUGLOW, Comrade Wale Balogun, the union described Ugboaja's death as a major loss not only to organised labour but also to Nigeria's broader democratic, civil society and progressive movements.
Balogun said his relationship with Ugboaja dated back many years, long before the latter became General Secretary of the NLC.
He recalled that their paths first crossed when he was the General Secretary of the Coalition of Oodua Self-Determination Groups, the then left component of the Oodua self-determination movement.
According to him, they subsequently worked together when he became the Publicity Secretary of the Joint Action Forum (JAF), now Joint Action Front, the civil society component of the Labour and Civil Society Coalition (LASCO), during the tenure of Comrade Adams Oshiomhole as President of the NLC.
Balogun recalled that the coalition brought together some of the most committed forces in Nigeria's labour, civil society and democratic struggles.
He specifically remembered the leadership of LASCO at the time, including Dr. Beko Ransome-Kuti as Convener, Comrade Chima Ubani as Secretary, Ngozi Nwere as Treasurer and Comrade Segun Sango as Mobilisation Secretary.
He said Ugboaja belonged to a generation of comrades who understood that the struggle of Nigerian workers could not be separated from the broader struggle of the Nigerian people for justice, democracy and social transformation.
BALOGUN RECOUNTS CHIMA UBANI REMEMBRANCE AND ABUJA PROTEST
Balogun also recounted one of his most memorable experiences involving Ugboaja, which was connected with the remembrance of the late activist and democratic campaigner, Comrade Chima Ubani.
He recalled that Chima Ubani died on September 21, 2005, alongside Vanguard Deputy Photo Editor Tunji Oyeleru, in a motor accident around Potiskum, Yobe State, while returning from a labour protest.
Five years later, on September 21, 2010, members of the progressive movement gathered at Allen Roundabout, Ikeja, Lagos, to commemorate the fifth anniversary of Ubani's death.
Balogun said he travelled from Osogbo to Lagos for the commemoration and the subsequent mobilisation towards Abuja.
According to him, some comrades from Lagos Mainland, Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, and Osun State College of Education, Ilesha, were at risk of being left behind as other comrades prepared to join the NLC/TUC mobilisation in Abuja.
He said rather than join the entourage led by Comrade Abiodun Aremu Aremson and Comrade Olawale Salami, popularly known as Don, he decided to remain behind and seek assistance for the stranded comrades.
“I called Comrade Emmanuel Ugboaja and Comrade Owei Lakemfa and appealed to them to intervene,” Balogun recalled.
He said Ugboaja immediately responded by asking him to secure at least two buses to convey the comrades to Abuja, while Owei Lakemfa undertook responsibility for paying for the buses.
“That was Emmanuel Ugboaja,” Balogun said, describing the late labour leader as a comrade who responded whenever solidarity was required.
The events that followed in Abuja on September 22, 2011, according to Balogun, remain permanently engraved in his memory.
He recalled that workers and their allies took to the streets of Abuja during the NLC/TUC protest against the Federal Government's privatisation programme, with NLC President Abdulwaheed Omar and TUC President Peter Esele among the labour leaders at the centre of the mobilisation.
Balogun said the comrades who travelled to Abuja in the two buses secured through the intervention of Ugboaja and Lakemfa became central to the unfolding events of that historic day.
“We championed and masterminded the efforts that secured the release of Comrades Waheed Omar and Peter Esele, who had been cornered and were at risk of arrest by the FCT Commissioner of Police,” he recalled.
He added that the group also led the charge that ultimately made their entry into the National Assembly possible that day.
“This was more than an act of participation; it was a decisive intervention by comrades who had travelled to Abuja in solidarity with the workers' struggle and were determined that neither intimidation nor police repression would prevent the protest from reaching its intended destination,” he said.
Balogun recalled that it was in the heat of the struggle, while moving through the streets of Abuja towards the National Assembly, that he composed the song:
“When people take over street,
When workers take over street,
Police and soldiers go run away,
When people take over street.”
According to him, the song became a reflection of the spirit of workers and ordinary Nigerians who refused to surrender their streets or their rights to oppressive power.
He said Ugboaja understood that “the street belongs to the people whenever power refuses to listen to the people.”
THE UYO RAIN SCHOOL MEMORY
Balogun also recalled another memorable encounter with Ugboaja during the NLC Rain School in Uyo, Akwa Ibom State.
He said he travelled to Uyo to represent the National Union of Gaming and Lottery Workers (NUGLOW) at the 20th NLC Rain School, held from July 15–19, 2024, at the Workers' Solidarity Centre, Uyo, Akwa Ibom State.
The theme of the 2024 Rain School was “Workers' Education and the Future of Work.”
Balogun said NUGLOW was unable to meet its financial obligations to the NLC at the time, a situation which could ordinarily have prevented his accreditation and participation in the programme.
However, he said Ugboaja intervened.
“Because of his intervention, I was accredited and allowed to participate fully in the programme,” he recalled.
Balogun said the intervention demonstrated the personal qualities of the late NLC General Secretary.
“For Emmanuel, comradeship was not a slogan. Solidarity was not a speech. The working class was not merely an abstract political expression,” he said.
According to him, Ugboaja understood that movements are built by recognising comrades, supporting them and ensuring that nobody is unnecessarily excluded from the struggle.
‘NUGLOW WILL SURELY MISS UGBOAJA’
Balogun said NUGLOW would surely miss Ugboaja, whom he described as a labour leader who understood the language of struggle and appreciated the inseparable relationship between organised labour and civil society.
“We will miss the comrade who understood the language of struggle.
“We will miss the labour leader who appreciated the inseparable relationship between organised labour and civil society.
“We will miss the man who could be reached when comrades needed intervention.
“We will miss a soldier of the working class who spent decades in the labour movement and eventually rose to become the General Secretary of the Nigeria Labour Congress,” he said.
“But above all, we will miss Emmanuel the Comrade.”
Balogun said although another person would eventually occupy the office of NLC General Secretary and the labour movement would continue, the memories of Ugboaja's comradeship, solidarity and commitment to struggle would remain.
He said Ugboaja's generation inherited a Nigeria confronted by dictatorship, exploitation, poverty, inequality and assaults on democratic freedoms, adding that they fought, organised, mobilised, marched and confronted power.
“The struggle remains unfinished,” Balogun declared.
He said the Nigerian working class remains exploited, the Nigerian people remain oppressed, poverty continues to stalk the land and the fundamental question of social justice remains unanswered.
According to him, the best tribute to Ugboaja would therefore not be merely to mourn him but to continue the struggle for workers' rights, against exploitation and oppression, and for democracy and social justice.
“The best tribute we can pay to Comrade Emmanuel Ugboaja is not merely to mourn him. It is to continue the struggle,” he said.
Balogun said the labour movement must continue the struggle for a Nigeria where the wealth produced by workers serves humanity rather than a privileged few.
He described Ugboaja as one of the long line of comrades who contributed their lives to the struggle before passing the baton to another generation.
“We shall carry it.
“We shall not surrender it.
“We shall not betray the sacrifices of those who came before us,” he declared.
Concluding his tribute, Balogun said:
**“Comrade Emmanuel Ugboaja, you fought your battles. You stood with your comrades. You served the working class. You contributed your own chapter to the history of struggle.
“Rest on in power, Comrade.
“Rest on, irrepressible working-class soldier.
“Aluta Continua!
“Victoria Ascerta!
“The struggle continues!”**
Comrade Wale Balogun
Deputy General Secretary
National Union of Gaming and Lottery Workers (NUGLOW)
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