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Ex NLC President Ayuba Wabba mourns Chiroma
*Recounts how he fought IBB over SAP, others
By Francesca Hangeior
The Immediate Past President of the Nigeria Labour Congress, NLC, and the International Trade Union Confederation, ITUC, Ayuba Wabba, has mourned the demise of former President of NLC, Ali Chiroma, describing him as an epitome of courage and character.
Chiroma died Tuesday in Maiduguri, the Borno State Capital, at the age of 91 years.
In a statement, Wabba gave insight into the late Labour veteran’s struggles for a better living conditions for workers and the Nigerian masses, saying “A great Iroko has fallen.”
According to him, “I have just received the news of the demise of the second President of the Nigeria Labour Congress, Comrade Ali Chiroma at the ripe old age of 91. Comrade Ali Chiroma died peacefully in the company of his family and friends bringing an end to about seven decades of service and commitment to the working people of Nigeria and the masses. A Great Iroko has fallen.
“Comrade Ali Chiroma was an epitome of courage and character. He served as the President of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) in the hey days of military rule. “Comrade Ali Chiroma served tall with gusto and pride despite the heavily mined field of military dictatorship.
“The steel in Comrade Ali Chiroma was most profoundly exemplified in the epoch of the resistance by the NLC and her allies in the labour movement against the Structural Adjustment Programme, SAP, of the General Ibrahim Babangida administration.
“After one of the major protests against SAP, the military came down hard on the NLC and invaded the national secretariat of the NLC. A number of officers of the Congress were picked up and detained by the military. Comrade Ali Chiroma had travelled out of town.
“When Comrade Ali Chiroma returned from his trip, he quickly drove to the detention centre and announced to the bemused soldiers that he was the President of the Nigeria Labour Congress and that he came to know why his comrades were detained.
“He demanded that if the soldiers were not willing to release the detained comrades, they should also take him into custody because he was not leaving without his comrades. Of course, the soldiers grabbed him and shoved him into the cells with his comrades.
“Comrade Ali Chiroma lived a life of pristine principles and unwavering commitment to advancing the welfare of workers and social justice in Nigeria. Comrade Ali Chiroma led from the front and refused to shy away from speaking truth to power.
“Comrade Ali Chiroma made a lot of sacrifices for the progress, unity and solidarity of the labour movement from his mother union, the Medical and Health Workers Union of Nigeria and the Nigeria Labour Congress where he rose to the pinnacle of his career.
“I am privileged to drink from the fountain of wisdom of a great iroko like Comrade Ali Chiroma. In death, Comrade Ali Chiroma continues to inspire.
“I commiserate with the immediate family of Comrade Ali Chiroma, the leadership of the Nigeria Labour Congress and other workers’ representative organisations in Africa and around the world on the fall of this Giant and Great Iroko that has fallen.
“Your good works, institutional impact and profound contributions to the task of nation building are your legacy written in gold and etched in the sand dunes of times, forever!”
Wabba added that Chiroma “was two term member of the Governing body of the International Labour Organisation and served on the committee of freedom of Association.
He was a member of SEC 5, 1983 of NIPSS, and a recipient of the national honours of MON.”
Terrorists have killed three soldiers in a fresh attack on a military camp in Kemanji community, Kaiama Local Government Area of Kwara State.
The attack reportedly occurred in the early hours of Monday, with residents saying heavy gunfire echoed across the area during the invasion.
According to local sources, the assailants, suspected to be armed terrorists, stormed the military camp without warning and engaged troops in a fierce gun battle.
The confrontation left three soldiers dead, while other personnel were said to have responded with a reprisal attack to repel the assailants.
One resident, who spoke on condition of anonymity, described the incident as sudden and violent, noting that the attackers took advantage of the early morning hours when some soldiers were asleep.
“Kemanji is a border community close to thick forest areas.
“Few of the soldiers were asleep around 3am when the terrorists invaded their camp and killed three of them before others responded,” the source said. (The Sun)
Prominent activist, Aisha Yesufu, has expressed concern over the ongoing teachers’ strike in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), calling on the minister, Nyesom Wike, to urgently intervene and resolve the crisis.
In a statement on Monday, Yesufu lamented the prolonged closure of public primary schools across the FCT, noting that the situation continues to disrupt the education of thousands of children.
She stressed that education remains a fundamental right and should not be treated with negligence, urging authorities to prioritise the welfare of both teachers and students.
“The continuous strike by teachers in the FCT is unacceptable. Our children cannot keep paying the price for unresolved issues,” she said.
The activist appealed directly to Wike to take decisive steps towards addressing the grievances of the striking teachers, including issues surrounding unpaid salaries and poor working conditions.
According to her, swift intervention by the FCT administration would not only restore academic activities but also rebuild confidence in the public education system.
The strike, which has lingered for weeks, has left many pupils at home, raising concerns among parents over the long term impact on learning.
Malam Nasir El-Rufai, a former governor of Kaduna, has alerted the public to what he called “certain malicious orchestrations” directed against him.
El-Rufai, in a statement signed and released on Sunday by Muyiwa Adekeye, his Media Adviser, said the unwarranted effort to arrest him upon his arrival at Abuja Airport from Cairo on 12 February 2026 served as a clear signal of more troubling developments to follow.
The evident objective of the current scheme, according to the statement, is to secure his indefinite detention through reprehensible tactics, stressing that such conduct is unacceptable, particularly toward a citizen who has made substantial contributions to our country.
He, however, said that the rule of law must never be perverted into a tool of oppression and legal processes should serve the ends of justice, not be employed to deny a citizen his fundamental right to liberty while he stands trial.
The statement stressed that Malam El-Rufai should be accorded full due process guaranteed by law to every citizen, and the persistent disregard for his rights must cease immediately.
The statement recalled that since 16 February 2026, when Malam El-Rufai honoured an invitation from the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), he was detained, then transferred to the custody of the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) on the night of 18 February.
It said the former governor remains in detention and has been arraigned in two separate high courts.
The statement, however, picked holes in a report headlined “El-Rufai’s trial: Gunmen invade principal witness home” published by a national newspaper, not Nigerian Tribune, on 18 April 2026.
It quoted the article as stating that a witness in the criminal proceedings at the Kaduna State High Court had reported to the police that armed individuals had invaded his residence.
The statement added that the paper included innuendos suggestive of a plot to frame Malam Nasir El-Rufai as the witness linked the incident to his role as a witness in the corruption charges against El-Rufai, specifically one of the nine counts involving the alleged unlawful revocation and reallocation of land.
The article, the statement added, further quoted the witness as alleging that the invasion might be part of an effort to silence him, drawing parallels with the controversial disappearance of Kaduna-based activist Abubakar Idris Dadiyata.
The statement said that while it is the civic duty of every citizen to report crimes to the authorities, it is an entirely different matter to publish false imputations against others.
It said any objective reader would recognise the clear intent behind these statements: to smear Malam Nasir El-Rufai’s reputation, jeopardise his pending bail application at the Kaduna State High Court, and implicate him in serious capital offences.
Part of the statement read, “Malam Nasir El-Rufai is an upstanding and law-abiding citizen who has no connection whatsoever to the incidents described in the publication. Therefore, he has already instructed his legal team to initiate defamation proceedings in this matter.
“Since 2023, Malam El-Rufai has been subjected to an appalling and sustained campaign of innuendos and vilification.
This is a man with a distinguished record of public service. Many will recall his sterling service to the cause of national unity through his principled opposition to opportunism, alongside other senior leaders, during the events leading to the 2022 primaries of the ruling party and thereafter.“
Just in: Terrorists invade military camp, k!ll three soldiers in Kwara
Aisha Yesufu faults FCT teachers’ strike, wants Wike to intervene
El-Rufai issues public alert in prison
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