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Embrace Peace Chief Alloy Obi to Igbos In Oyo state

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  The Onyendu Ndigbo of Ibadan and Oyo state, High Chief Alloy Obi has called on the Igbo community in Oyo state to embrace peace as a step towards an enduring democracy.  High Chief Obi made this call on Thursday while addressing the issues surrounding the Ibadan Division of the Appeal Court's Judgment, in a Press Conference in Ibadan, Nigeria.  ''My victory at the Court of Appeal is not just for me as a person, the Appeal court case lasted for  ten eyars. I would have given it up, if it were just about me as a person. I remained in the struggle in the last ten years beacuse of the implication  on Ohaneze Ndigbo worldwide, South East Council of Traditional Rulers and Igbo extraction all over the world. I hereby use this medium to call on those who are still in opposition to sheath their sword because it is time for enduring peace and togetherness among Ndigbo in Oyo state. I promise to be a good and impartial father to Ndigbo and Igbo groups in Oyo state. On my part, I wil

Workers Welfare : Michael Imoudu as a Role Model 2

 


The need for an increase in wages and better working conditions prompted Michael Imoudu to lead a demonstration from the locomotive yard in Ebute metta, Lagos to the Government House situated at Marina, Lagos Island, Lagos.

The Governor General of the Colony of Lagos, Bernard Bourdillon, noticed that any form of industrial action at that period, could disrupt railway supplies to the coalition, during the Second World War in 1941. It was on this premise he acceded to a 50 percent pay rise for the workers.

This success, further inspired Imoudu to put forward more demands, among which were conversion of daily casual labor to salaried employment, Saturday work with pay, permanence of daily labor, holiday travel grant and payment of arrears to cover from 1932 to 1942 unpaid entitlements.

This did not go down well with Bourdillon, who facilitated the termination of Imoudu’s appointment on 23 January 1943 and also ordered his arrest under the Nigeria General Defense Regulations, 1941.

In quick succession, he was relocated and remanded at the Benin prison. While in prison, he influenced inmates to demonstrate against poor feeding and other deplorable prison conditions.

In response, the British Colonial Government in 1943, restricted Imoudu’s movement to the palace of the paramount Chief of Auchi and made an order for him to report twice a week to the Auchi Police station.

As a result of a face off with the District Officer of Auchi and his moves to facilitate the establishment of peasants’ cooperatives for the benefit of peasants in Etsako and Ora, he was again remanded in the Auchi prison.

Some of his comrades, including T. A Bankole, openly spoke against Imoudu’s action, to the hearing of the Chief Secretary of Government.

After spending two and a half years in prison, the labor activist was set free.

A mass rally was held at Oko-Awo, Lagos to celebrate his release from prison, while nationalists such as Herbert Macaulay were on the ground to grace the occasion.

In June 1945, he successfully led over 30,000 workers to down tools for 44 days.

The industrial action hinged on the inability of the colonial government to actualize the promise of Bourdillon in 1942, to review allowances according to an index.

Bourdillon's successor, Arthur Frederick Richards, vigorously refused to pay the allowance.

This resulted in the abrupt end of the unpopular Richards constitution, and set the stage for self government.

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