- ‘My friend of 40 years gone’
A Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) stalwart, Dr. Gbenga Olawepo-Hashim, has expressed sadness over the passing of labour activist, Abiodun Aremu.
Olwepo-Hashim said he and the late Aremu were good friends for 40 years.
In a tribute to the late labour activist, Olawepo-Hashim wrote: “Aremson (as we called him) and I met in 1986 as young activists. I was in the School of Basic Studies and Aremu in the school of Technology, both Campuses of the College of Technology, Ilorin, with the third college being the School of Management and Vocational.
“Aremu and I belonged to the Youths Thinkers’ Club, a group of patriotic young thinkers committed to a better Nigeria and the Liberation of our Fatherland from underdevelopment. We were also joint members of the Patriotic Liberation Movement, a working-class and peasantry-focused left group with leading figures like M. Yaqub (later Rotimi Obadofin), Femi Ahmed, Didi Adodo, Rev. Father Ofei, Bona Chizea, Alex Ayatollah, Sunday Ewen, etc.
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“Ilorin, where Aremson cut his activist political teeth, like I, was an idealogical melting pot in the mid-‘80s. At the Youth and Students’ fronts were actors like Shola Olorunuomi, now a University Professor; Denja Yaq, Lanre Fulani, Mathew Keyi, Hamzat Ibn Suleman, etc. In the media were Dapo Olorunyomi, Lanre Kawu (Modibo Kawu Ladi Abdul Azeez) who eventually became Dapo Olorunyomi’s wife, etc, etc.
“A tribute to Aremson’s unwavering commitment to the working people of Nigeria and the cause of a better Nigeria cannot leave out the influence of the family of patriots that produced him and ideologically birthed some of us.
“Aremu and I had a closer bond; we were very passionate about change. Some people say every opportunity to confront the status quo was like a birthday ceremony for Aremu and I. Some more uncharitable critics called us ‘Petty bourgeois exhibitionists’.
“In May 1986, Aremu, as President of Students’ Union, led protesting students of the School of Technology, and I led thousands of students from the School of Basic Studies to protest the killing of students at the Ahmadu Bello University (ABU), Zaria, in what became the ‘Ango Must Go’ protest. We were heading to the rendezvous at the NTA Ilorin, where we had planned to make a broadcast, when we were confronted by a large detachment of mobile riot policemen at the Ministry of Agriculture in Ilorin. The government declared a curfew, but we managed to get together later at my grandmother’s place to a plate of mama’s amala and ewedu soup.
“Aremson and I kept close contact and visited each other regularly over the past four decades.
“He recently survived a stroke, but fell to the cruel assault of a hit-and-run driver.
“Why was Aremu crossing the road all by himself? He had a car, which he seldom used because the road to his house was simply impassable, the last time I visited. Most residents of the community simply just park their cars.
“Aremu built his house amongst the poor even though I won’t consider him poor: he chose by himself what he did, not because he lacked better options.
“His choice was made easy for him by the understanding and cooperation of his loyal wife who must now bear the greatest weight of this loss.
“Aremson was an internationalist, particularly a friend of Cuba and a promoter of the Legacy of Amicar Cabral.
“We were ideologically bonded until his death. Though we chose different paths as we grew up, he, a professional revolutionary, I chose entrepreneurship and Mass Democratic Politics, but our cord of commitment to a better Nigeria remained unbroken.
“A rare patriot has fallen, a combatant for the cause of the poor is gone, my friend has become the pool of water after the rain that passes by the street, never to return home again. Adieu, great one!”
