In a paper I presented at the 20th posthumous commemoration of Comrade Michael Aithokhaimen Omiunu Imoudu’s passing in Lagos, Nigeria, I highlighted how he acquired the sobriquet, ‘Labour Leader Number One’
Imoudu, I stated, lived truly to his surname – “Imho-udu”; an Afemai-Edo word literally meaning “I have heart”; “Am lion-hearted”; “Am fearless”. “Imoudu” is a corruption of “Imho-udu”.
The Railway Workers’ Union (RWU) to which he belonged was not the first trade union in Nigeria. The Southern Nigeria Civil Service Union, formed in 1912, was the first. With the amalgamation of Northern and Southern Nigeria in 1914, it was renamed the Nigeria Civil Service Union.
The RWU, founded in 1931, had leaders like Messrs Macaulay, Ejikeme, Opeyemi, and Babington, before Imoudu emerged as its President in 1940. These leaders were committed servants of workers.
They mobilized workers to register as union members, regularly pay their monthly dues and participate in union meetings and rallies. They wrote petitions demanding improved conditions for workers.
But none of them earned the nickname ‘Labour Leader Number One’. Imoudu did. The fearlessness and headstrong militancy Imoudu brought to the labour movement, and his unshakeable confidence in the rank-and-file workers, helped him to acquire it.
Also, Imoudu’s repeated appeals to workers over and above the established union leadership, management, and government, passionately endeared workers to him.
Imoudu’s constant use of the symbols of tradition to reinforce opposition to colonial domination, and his capacity to provide leadership during moments of crisis in the workplace, at mass meetings, on the streets, and leading marching columns of workers, made workers see him as their undisputed leader.
Further, his public display of ordinary workers’ lifestyle, and his persistent propagation that in the hands of workers, market women and the peasantry, lay the future of Nigeria, popularized and engrained him in the consciousness of workers, as ‘Labour Leader Number One’.
Imoudu joined the Nigeria Railway as labour/mechanic in 1929, when RWU was partially operating clandestinely. It was the colonial era and as an ordinary union member, he helped build the union by encouraging rank-and-file workers to overcome the fear of management and join the union.
An intelligence report stated that Imoudu was going from workshop to workshop encouraging men to make trouble.
It was, however, Imoudu’s role in the registration of the RWU in 1939, when trade unionism was legalised, that he unquestionably earned the nickname, ‘Labour Leader Number One’.
After the legalization of trade unionism in the country, railway workers resolved at a meeting to register their union. But the Chairman “developed cold feet and refused to append his signature in spite of entreaties. Imoudu offered to sign the document and was immediately made acting Chairman and, he signed the registration forms.
At the next election he was duly made the Chairman.”
On January 1, 1940, RWU was offered the Certificate of Registration, as ‘Trade Union No. 1’. Workers resolved that since the RWU is ‘Trade Union No. 1”, then, Imoudu, who signed the registration application, should be, ‘Labour Leader Number One’.
The RWU under Imoudu’s leadership gave birth to militant trade unionism in Nigeria. Workers and leaders who violated union policies and opposed strikes, boycotts, and other militant actions were seriously reprimanded. It resolved that all petitions, appeals, demands, and negotiations must be backed with a strike ultimatum.
Led by Imoudu, RWU began pamphleteering, and introduced a new boldness in negotiating with government officials. An imaginary exchange, which reportedly transpired, between Nigeria’s Acting Colonial Governor, Sir Alan Burns, and Imoudu, during negotiations on the cost of living allowance in 1941, gave credence to this:
Imoudu: ‘Look here Sir Alan Burns, you are not sent to Nigeria to burn us. My men are hungry you know?’
Governor: “I do”.
Imoudu: “Look at your house and look at mine”
The Governor did.
Imoudu: “Is it fair?” “No”
Imoudu: “If I give the word all the Railway Workers will stop work wherever they are.”
Governor: “I know you have such powers and that is why I sent for you. Promise me that you will not give the word.”
Imoudu smiled relented and gave the assurance.
Imoudu, on September 29, 1941, led three thousand railway workers on a peaceful, orderly and carnival-like five-mile protest-trek to the Government House, Marina, Lagos.
In principle, the protest was against the railway Chief Mechanical Engineer, Mr. W. G. W. Wilson, seen by workers as a “‘wicked White man’ who did not have their interest in mind.” In reality, however, it was against the disastrous effects of the Great Depression and war-time measures on workers.
The demands of the marchers clearly confirmed this: “the restoration of full pay for the five-hours’ work done by workers on Saturday as against paying them only three-hour wages since 1931; monthly fixed rate of pay with better salary scale; annual leave with pay; free service ticket for workers when proceeding on annual leave; sick leave with full pay; and a general increase in wages to meet the rising cost of living.
Mr. Wilson, fearing the destruction of railway property and unaware that the proposed strike had been suspended, “locked out the men quite contrary to the provisions of the Defence Regulations.”
This act gave Imoudu the golden opportunity he had been looking for to confront the management for improved conditions, including demanding Wilson’s removal – a demand dating back to 1939.
Marching workers sang traditional war songs, and carried placards, which read, “Wilson Must Go or Die”, to which old market women shouted “Give us to eat”. Traffic gave way to the demonstrators. The ‘West African Pilot’ newspaper of September 30, 1941 reported that “the whole route was lined by a cheering and sympathetic crowd.”
The procession did not reach the Government House. It was diverted by the police to the Race Course. The Governor, Sir Bernard Bourdillon, met the workers, listened to their grievances, noted their demands, and expressed sympathy over the long trek, which workers called, “October Revolution” an obvious allusion to the Russian Revolution.
Bourdillon promised to sympathetically look into their grievances, and pledged to visit the workers in the Railway Compound the next day to resolve issues. He equally declared that day as a holiday for workers in compensation for the trek.
Bourdillon described the lockout as a “silly mistake”, and a grievous offence under the provisions of the Nigeria Defence Regulations and promised to punish whoever was responsible.
He, indeed, visited the workers the next morning, where he repeatedly apologized and granted all but one of their demands, namely, rise in wage and cost of living. He, however, promised to establish a special committee to investigate the demands.
Bourdillon added that the committee’s findings would be accepted and implemented retrospectively with effect from October 1, 1941. He announced, “amidst a thunderous ovation that the man [Wilson] had of his volition asked for leave and transfer, and the request was granted.”
This event solidified Imoudu as ‘Labour Leader Number One’ amongst railways and Lagos workers and people.
Government arrest, detention and exile of Imoudu from Lagos to Benin-city in January 1943, and his subsequent banishment from Benin-city to Auchi, popularise him nationally and internationally.
Imoudu’s role in the making of the 1945 General Strike also ingrained him in the hearts and minds of Nigerians as ‘Labour Leader Number One.’
Ahmed Aminu-Ramatu Yusuf worked as deputy director, Cabinet Affairs Office, The Presidency, and retired as General Manager (Administration), Nigerian Meteorological Agency, (NiMet). Email: [email protected]
