Adams Oshiomhole @ 70. What you should know about him

Adams Oshiomhole @ 70. What you should know about him

Oshiomhole was born Adams Aliyu Oshiomhole on April 4, 1952, in Itamoh, a small community near Auchi in Edo State.

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He grew up in a Muslim family but has since converted to Christianity.

A Nigerian politician and the former National Chairman of the All Progressive Congress.

He had previously served as the President of the Nigeria Labour Congress from 1999 to 2007 and the executive governor of Edo State, Nigeria from 2008 to 2016.

In the year 1971, a spontaneous uprising earned him an opportunity to prove himself as a union leader, and in 1975, he became a full-time trade union organizer.

Adams Oshiomhole went to Ruskin College, Oxford, in the United Kingdom, to study economics and industrial relations. Adams was named Best Foreign Student at Ruskin College after completing the tough and challenging multi-disciplinary program. Higher schooling gave him more theoretical and intellectual knowledge.

In 1988, he was elected as the NLC’s vice president for the first time. The NLC was disbanded by the military regime in 1995 but was resurrected once democracy was restored in 1999. On January 28, 1999, Adams Oshiomhole was elected president of the newly resurrected NLC. As a Labour leader, he is well-known for his numerous notable contributions. During the early term of Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo, he negotiated a 25% wage rise for public sector workers.

In Nigeria, he is well known for leading a statewide strike against rising oil prices. He had pushed for the reversal of President Obasanjo’s price hikes at the pump, which had resulted in strikes and rallies. He was prosecuted for his adamant opposition to the then-handling government of the gasoline issue. The Labour leader was allegedly kidnapped by State Security Services during a protest in October 2009, but the Nigerian government said he voluntarily submitted to detention.

Adams Oshiomhole is well-known for his pivotal role in fostering a culture of the radical and critical citizenry, in which leaders are open to being questioned by their followers. As a result, he was compelled to enter politics in 2007, when he ran for Governor of Edo State. He ran for governor but was claimed to have lost the election to Oserheimen Osunbor of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP). However, Oshiomhole and his All Progressives Congress (APC) did not accept the election results, claiming that they were rigged.

An Edo State electoral tribunal annulled Oserheimen Osunbor’s election on March 20, 2008, and proclaimed Oshiomhole the winner. As a result, he was appointed governor. On November 11, 2008, a federal appellate court in Benin City upheld the state’s elections petitions tribunal’s decision. In 2012, he was re-elected to a second term.