ADAMS OSHIOMOLE

Born on April 4,1953 of a father who was into peasant farming and a petty trader mother, Adams Aliu Oshiomhole, had his elementary school education in his home village, Iyamoh, a relatively unknown village sandwiched between Okpella and Auchi in the Northern part of Edo state. He later left Iyamoh for Kaduna with the desire to study architecture which never materialised owing to lack of funds. Oshiomhole eventually opted for a factory work and joined Arewa textile mill. It was at the factory that destiny smiled on him and by 1970, he was elected shop steward. This marked the beginning of Oshiomhole’s fulfilling career in trade unionism.
He was at various times the General Secretary of the National Union of Textile and Garment Workers Union and was elected the Deputy President of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) in 1988 Oshio-mhole was eventually elected the president of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) in January 1999. He studied labour, economics and industrial relations at Ruskin College in Oxford in the UK and later attended Nigeria’s prestigious National Institute for Policy and Strategic Studies (NIPSS) in Kuru.
Oshiomhole’s profile rose rapidly as the nation’s number one labour activist when he consistently fought the government of former President Olusegun Obasanjo to a standstill over the government’s policy on arbitrary removal of oil subsidies and imposing high cost of petroleum products on the people.
He was arrested and detained several times by the government of President Olusegun Obasanjo for ordering workers to down tools in protest over the high cost of fuel.
His other achievements as a labour leader included the strengthening of the labour movement and uniting the unions that had previously worked at cross-purposes. He whipped up public opinion against the government’s mismanagement of the country’s oil reserves, insisting that the only benefit that the masses could enjoy is to make fuel available at affordable price.
Also, Oshiomhole negotiated a public sector wage increase of 25 per cent, a feat which earned him re-election for a second term of office in 2002.
After the expiration of his term, he joined politics in 2006 and contested for the governorship of Edo state in 2007 under the umbrella of the Action Congress (AC).
He told his supporters that he decided to go into partisan politics because it was the only way to effect real change in the society. According to him, he decided to team up with the Progressives, as there is the need for a clean break from the sordid past. “We need a complete break from the past; we are out to set Edo people free and so, we need a completely new machinery to actualise that dream,” he said.
As a dogged unionist, Oshiomhole claimed it would not be nice to be seen hobnobbing with the dark forces that worked against the country’s development. Initially he decided to actualise his ambition via the Labour party but he later changed his mind and joined the AC.
On the suggestion that he should have taken a shot at the presidency, Oshiomhole dec-lared that he preferred to start from somewhere and gather valuable experience before contesting for the nation’s number one position.
He urged members of the civil society to be involved in politics as “it is the best way they can put to practice what they preach. When honest men shy away from politics, it is the greedy ones who participate that will end up ruling them.”
However, his opponent and the candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Prof Oserheimen Osunbor, was declared by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) winner of the governorship poll. This was greeted with violent protests across Edo state.
Oshiomhole while reacting to the result of the election had said: “Obasanjo ought to know that Edo State is not a wristwatch either to be given to Chief Anthony Anenih as a long service award for his retirement in politics nor to be used as a bride price to settle his in -laws; that will be insulting the good people of Edo State. He’s done his worst if you ask me to use Federal executive powers to do what they have done. It is bad for you to steal into somebody’s home and steal a property that does not belong to you, but it is worse when you try to undermine the will of a whole people, and yet, they are the very people you want to govern.
“I think for me, I am the happiest of them all because I am walking freely on the street, I go everywhere, people are praying for me; men and women of God, old and young; so I have no problem but I know the other camp has a lot of problem, that is the burden now, so they rather than me have the burden of coping.
“The people have paid a huge price but they are not deterred .I am quite happy that we are doing everything we can to ensure that the thief never has peace of mind and I know they will never have it because they murdered sleep.”
In the wake of the post-election crisis that rocked the state after the declaration of the gubernatorial election result, Oshiomhole was arrested on April 16, 2007 and flown to Abuja. He was later released after which he protested the outcome of the said election result by filing a petition before the State Election Petitions Tribunal. Oshiomhole assembled a team of lawyers who were able to argue their client’s case during the sittings of the Tribunal. On March 20 2008, the Tribunal headed by Justice Peter Umeadi in its judgment declared Oshiomhole as the duly elected governor of Edo state and ordered INEC to issue him certificate of return. But this popular verdict was rejected by Professor Oserh-eimen Osunbor who immediately appealed the tribunal’s decision. Oshiomhole’s victory was however re-affirmed on the 12th of November,2008 in Benin city by the Court of Appeal which is the court of final jurisdiction over governorship election matter.
With this victory, Oshiomhole became the first labour leader to become a governor and the second candidate to unseat a sitting governor via judicial pronouncement in the "after Obasanjo" dispensation. The first was Hon. Rotimi Amaechi who was sworn in on the orders of a Supreme Court judgment in place of Celestine Omehia as Governor of Rivers state in October, 2007.