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OBJ Says CIA, KGB Once Funded Nigeria’s Labour Movement
Former President Olusegun Obasanjo has disclosed that Nigeria’s organised labour movement was, at a critical stage in its history, funded by foreign intelligence agencies, a development he said exposed the country’s labour system to external control and raised grave concerns about national sovereignty.
Obasanjo made the revelation at the 85th birthday celebration and public presentation of the memoir of a former President of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), Hassan Sunmonu, titled “Memoirs of an African Trade Union Icon: Organise, Don’t Agonise”.
The gathering of labour leaders, policymakers and civil society actors evolved into a broader reflection on the past, present and future of trade unionism in Nigeria.
According to the former president, Nigeria’s labour space during the Cold War era was dominated by two powerful labour organisations which, though Nigerian in name, were allegedly financed and influenced by opposing global power blocs.
He said one faction received support from the Soviet Union’s KGB, while the other was funded by the United States’ Central Intelligence Agency, a situation he described as unhealthy and dangerous for an independent nation.
“As far as you remember, when Gooduck was leading one of the two major labour then Adebola, these two labour organizations are Nigerian labour organizations but they were not organized or funded by Nigeria,” Obasanjo said. “I don’t know if you know that, but that was the reality.
“One was being financed by KGB, that is the truth, and the other one was being financed by CIA, that was the truth, and then I came on the scene.”
He explained that this reality shaped his resolve, as military Head of State, to reform the labour movement and insulate it from foreign interference by building a structure that was organised, controlled and financed by Nigerians.
“I needed a Nigerian labour union organised by Nigeria, controlled by Nigeria, financed by Nigeria. So I decided there was going to be a labour union reform,” Obasanjo said, recalling that the reform process was spearheaded by Justice Adebiyi.
He noted that Sunmonu was among those who initially questioned his involvement in labour matters.
Obasanjo said, “Hassan was one of those who was forefront to ask, what do I know about labour that I’m asking for reform? What is my business?”
Obasanjo said the reform process eventually led to the restructuring of trade unions and the enactment of laws that gave birth to the Nigeria Labour Congress as a unified national platform.
He stressed that the emergence of the NLC leadership was achieved without direct government interference, restoring credibility to organised labour and fostering relative industrial stability.
“Of course, I don’t know anything about labour but I know that I wanted a Nigerian labour organization organized by Nigeria, headed by Nigeria, and funded by Nigeria,” he said.
“When Justice Adebiyi finished his job and we reformed the labour and party law establishing NLC, what happened? Without government’s hand, they elected their leader and Hassan became the first leader they elected. I don’t know how I felt at that time, but I felt comfortable.”
Sunmonu, who led the NLC from 1978 to 1984, is widely regarded as one of the architects of modern trade unionism in Nigeria.
Reflecting on his relationship with Sunmonu, Obasanjo said government and labour were bound to interact and even depend on each other, but must do so without compromising their independence.
He recalled advising Sunmonu to openly criticise government policies after private engagements in order to preserve labour’s credibility and the trust of workers.
He added that the introduction of a compulsory check-off system ensured sustainable union funding and permanently eliminated foreign financial influence from Nigeria’s labour movement.
Obasanjo further praised Sunmonu for elevating Nigerian labour on the continental and global stage, describing him as the most influential figure in the country’s labour movement after the late Pa Michael Imoudu.
The occasion also provided a platform for the current President of the Nigeria Labour Congress, Comrade Joe Ajaero, to deliver a blistering critique of contemporary economic policies, new tax laws and Nigeria’s rising public debt. Ajaero warned that the systematic exclusion of labour from critical policy processes was deepening poverty and undermining democratic governance.
He argued that the philosophy captured in Sunmonu’s memoir, Organise, Don’t Agonise, stood in sharp contrast to what Nigerians were currently experiencing, accusing the government of preferring “enrage over engage.”
“Tax laws that tax the national minimum wage, impose heavier burdens on workers and the poor, and worsen excruciating poverty are not progressive but regressive,” Ajaero said.
He insisted that labour was deliberately excluded from the Presidential Committee on Tax because workers were “meant to be on the menu.”
Raising broader concerns about governance and accountability, the NLC president echoed Sunmonu’s recent public interrogation of Nigeria’s growing debt profile.
“Where are all the monies being borrowed by the federal government?” he asked. “It is from this standpoint that we must speak directly to the Nigerian Government.”
Ajaero warned that bypassing key stakeholders, distorting Acts of Parliament and ruling “by strong arm” eroded public trust and threatened national stability.
He said the central message of Organise, Don’t Agonise also imposed a responsibility on the state to engage citizens sincerely rather than provoke frustration and social unrest.
“The philosophy of ‘Organise, Don’t Agonise’ also implies that the state has a duty to engage, not enrage.
There is an urgent need for deeper, more sincere, and structured engagement with the trade union movement at all levels,” he said.
“Policies, from fuel pricing to taxation, from wage to social services, must be crafted with the active, respected input of those who represent the workers and the broader masses.”
“To sideline the organised voice of labour is to design policies on shaky, exclusionary foundations, destined to generate crisis and agony as is being witnessed currently,” he added.
The NLC president also demanded the immediate constitution of the PENCOM board and called for clarity and restraint in the implementation of the new tax laws, warning that persisting on the current path was dangerous for tax administration and democracy.
While celebrating Sunmonu as a symbol of courage, integrity and principled engagement, Ajaero said the event had transcended personal honour and become a moment of national reckoning on the condition of Nigerian workers.
He urged the Federal Government to urgently address workers’ wages ahead of the next statutory minimum wage negotiation and called for a decisive shift toward inclusive governance.
“Comrade Sunmonu, as we launch your book today, we pledge to keep its central message alive,” he said.
“We will continue to organise. We will continue to challenge power. We will continue to fight for a Nigeria where no worker has to agonise over poverty, insecurity, heavy taxation or a stolen future riddled with national debt.”
As the stand-off over the Strait of Hormuz continued, following its effective blockade by Iran, the US and the gulf state are trading threats of further destruction of energy and oil infrastructure across the Middle East with US President, Donald Trump, saying Tehran would face possible obliteration of its energy facilities if it failed to reopen the channel within 48 hours.
In a swift response, Iran threatened to irreversibly destroy US-linked energy sites across the Middle East if its power plants were targeted.
The 48 hours deadline expires today.
Trump’s ultimatum came hours after two Iranian missiles struck southern Israeli towns of Arad and Dimona, injuring more than 160 people in the most destructive attack since the war began.
This, the Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, vowed to retaliate “on all fronts”.
Iran had blocked the vital waterway, which carries a fifth of global crude oil trade in peacetime, as its key leverage in the war.
The standoff has sent crude oil prices soaring, with North Sea Brent crude now trading above $105 a barrel, as long-term consequences for the global economy become an acute concern.
The ultimatum, made just a day after the US president said he was considering winding down military operations after three weeks of war, came as the key oil passage remained effectively closed and thousands more US Marines headed to the Middle East.
Iran’s foreign minister, Abbas Araghchi, said Tehran had imposed restrictions only on vessels from countries involved in attacks against Iran, and would assist others that stayed out of the conflict.
Meanwhile, issuing the threat via his Truth Social, Trump said that the US would “hit and obliterate various Iran power plants starting with the biggest one first if Tehran did not fully reopen the strait within 48 hours.”
Reinforcing Trump’s threat, US Treasury Secretary, Scott Bessent, said the US may need to “escalate” its attacks against Iran to be able to wind down the war.
Asked on NBC’s “Meet the Press” if Trump was winding down or escalating the war, Bessent said: “They’re not mutually exclusive. Sometimes you have to escalate to de-escalate.”
“This is the only language the Iranians understand,” he argued.
Iran threatens US-linked Gulf energy sites after
In response to Trump’s threat, Iran’s army said it would target energy and desalination infrastructure belonging to the US and the regime in the region, according to the Fars news agency.
In a post on X, speaker of the Iranian parliament, Mohammad-Bagher Ghalibaf,
said that vital infrastructure, energy and oil facilities throughout the region will be considered “legitimate targets” and would be destroyed in an irreversible manner.
“Immediately after the power plants and infrastructure in our country are targeted, the critical infrastructure, energy infrastructure, and oil facilities throughout the region will be considered legitimate targets and will be destroyed in an irreversible manner, and the price of oil will remain high for a long time,” Ghalibaf said.
Similarly, Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) intelligence unit in a post on X published by the IRGC affiliated Fars News Agency, said that it is thinking “beyond just the region”.
The post explained that this referred to a “red target bank” of technological and political targets in response to threats against power plants, suggesting that action could be taken “in less than 48 hours”.
The post also lists several achievements the IRGC claimed to have made during the war, including what it described as the “consolidation of power in the Strait,” and “control of global energy.”
To completely shut down the strait
Besides the threats of targeting energy infrastructure across the region, Iran’s military also threatened to completely shut down the strategic Strait of Hormuz if Trump acts on threats to target the country’s power plants.
“If the United States’ threats regarding Iran’s power plants are carried out… the Strait of Hormuz will be completely closed, and it will not be reopened until our destroyed power plants are rebuilt,” the military’s operational command, Khatam Al-Anbiya, said in a statement carried by state TV.
The military said it would also strike Israel’s “power plants, energy, and information and communications technology (ICT) infrastructure”, along with power plants in regional countries hosting US bases and companies with US shareholders.
It added that the measures will be taken “to defend our country and the interests of our nation”.
Iran charges $2m from ships passing through Strait of Hormuz – Iranian MP
BBC quoted Iranian Member of Parliament, Alaeddin Boroujrrdi, as saying on state TV that some of the ships that pass through the Strait of Hormuz were being charged “ a $2 (£1.5) million fee” by Iran.
He said that a “new governing regime” was being imposed in the Strait claiming that “war has costs”. According to him, the closure of the Strait shows the “authority and right that the Islamic Republic of Iran possesses”.
Iran’s deadly strikes on southern Israel injures 160
Meanwhile, retaliating against Israel’s strike on its Natanz nuclear facility, Iran struck southern Israel towns of Arad and Dimona, injuring more than 160 people in the most destructive attack since the war began. The Israel prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, vowed to retaliate “on all fronts”
The strikes, which slipped through Israel’s missile defence systems, tore open the facades of residential buildings and carved craters into the ground.
First responders said 84 people were injured in the town of Arad, 10 of them seriously. Hours earlier, 33 were wounded in nearby Dimona, where AFPTV footage showed a large hole gouged into the ground next to piles of rubble and twisted metal.
Dimona hosts a facility widely believed to be the site of the Middle East’s only nuclear arsenal, although Israel has never admitted to possessing nuclear weapons.
The Israeli army told Agence France-Presse there had been a direct missile hit on a building in Dimona, with casualties reported at multiple sites, including a 10-year-old boy in serious condition with shrapnel wounds.
Iran said the targeting of Dimona was retaliation for Israeli strikes on its Natanz nuclear facility, with the IRGC saying forces also targeted other southern Israeli towns as well as military sites in Kuwait and the UAE.
The Natanz facility hosts underground centrifuges used to enrich uranium for Iran’s disputed nuclear programme; it sustained damage in the June 2025 war.
The Israeli military denied it was behind the Natanz strike, but said it had struck a facility at a Tehran university that it claimed was being used to develop nuclear weapon components for Iran’s ballistic missile programme.
Attacks on nuclear sites create escalating threat to public health, WHO chief warns
The Iran war has reached a “perilous stage” as both sides target nuclear facilities, the Director-General of the World Health Organisation, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, has warned.
Ghebreyesus said the International Atomic Energy Agency was looking into both attacks.
“No indications of abnormal or increased off-site radiation levels have been reported,” he said in a post on X.
But he added: “Attacks targeting nuclear sites create an escalating threat to public health and environmental safety.
“Since the outbreak of hostilities, WHO has provided critical training to its own staff and UN personnel across 13 countries to help them respond effectively to public health threats in the event of a nuclear incident.
“I urgently call on all parties to exercise maximum military restraint and avoid any actions that could trigger nuclear incidents.
“Peace is the best medicine.”
There is palpable tension in Egbeda/Ona-Ara Federal Constituency of Oyo State, as a group of youths staged a protest opposing what they described as an alleged move by Alabi to pursue a third term in the House of Representatives.
Alabi, an entrepreneur and author, is currently serving his second term in the 10th National Assembly, representing Egbeda/Ona-Ara. A ranking member of the House, he chairs the Committee on Works. He is also the founder of NairaBET and owner of Lekki United F.C.
According to a statement made available to the columng by a journalist Tosin Faleye, protesting youths opposed to his continued representation argued during a street procession, that after completing two terms — amounting to eight years — leadership should rotate to allow fresh representation and new ideas.
Placards displayed during the protest carried messages demanding accountability, transparency, and measurable development outcomes. Some demonstrators alleged that infrastructure projects and empowerment initiatives in parts of the constituency have not met expectations.
Several residents who spoke during the protest expressed concerns about what they described as limited grassroots engagement and insufficient visibility of constituency projects.
Allegations and Counterclaims
The development comes amid broader national conversations surrounding lawmakers’ constituency project allocations, particularly following the removal of petrol subsidy.
At a media and civil society roundtable organised by the International Press Centre (IPC) in Abuja, House spokesperson Akin Rotimi dismissed claims of increased constituency allocations as false, attributing the reports to political actors dissatisfied with previous electoral outcomes.
Separately, comments by Ayodele Asalu had alleged significant increases in funding for lawmakers’ projects. However, official representatives of the House have refuted those claims.
Governance Debate Intensifies
Critics within Egbeda/Ona-Ara maintain that performance should be assessed based on tangible impact, accessibility, and sustained community engagement. They argue that representation must translate into visible development and consistent communication with constituents.
Supporters of Alabi, however, point to his legislative experience and committee leadership as some of the bragging rights that qualifies him for another term of representation.
The Ogun state government has directed gas stations , eateries and restaurants located within the state, to henceforth make their restrooms available to the general public for use without hindrance.
Speaking on the moves of government to address the worrisome issue of open defecation in the state, the Ogun State’s Commissioner for the Environment, Dr Ola Oresanya, said to nip the trend it in the bud, government has provided about 10 public toilets on the Ogun state end of the Lagos Ibadan Express road, specifically from Kahra, through Ibafo to Redeemed Church’s third gate.
Explaining that the public toilets are the labelled visible yellow buildings on the corridor, the Commissioner who made the disclosure while speaking on a program on Miliki FM, said, the 10 public toilets on the Ibafo corridor, are part of the newly built 100 public toilets out of 200 planned for the state.
He said the Karra through Ibafo to Sagamu interchange will eventually have 40 with 20 on each side of the road.
As part of efforts to curb open defecation in the state, the Commissioner said meetings have been held with owners of gas stations in the state to always make their toilet available for public use.The directive, he said also affects restaurant operators.In the bid to enforce the directive, which he said is backed by law, the Commissioner disclosed that three recalcitrant gas stations have already been shut for non compliance
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