Ex-NLC leader, Oyekan Arije is dead

A former chairman of the Nigeria Labour Congress, NLC, Oyekan Arije, has died at the age of 87.

Activist lawyer, Femi Aborisade, disclosed this in a statement released on behalf of the family on Wednesday.

According to him, Arije died in the early hours of Tuesday.

DAILY POST reports that Arije had been active in the labour movement since the 1960s and served as Chairman of NLC from the late 1970s to the early 1980s.

“With the consent and at the request of the biological children, I announce, with profound sadness, the transition to eternity of COMRADE (PA) OYEKAN ARIJE, a foremost Labour Leader and Socialist, who passed on in the early hours of Tuesday, 18 August 2026, at the age of 87.

“The life of Comrade Oyekan Arije was defined by a commitment and passionate identification with the struggles of the working class and the downtrodden for justice and freedom from the economic and political shackles of the capitalist ruling class,” Aborisade stated.