How Senator Oshiomhole Humiliated Labour Icon, Pa Michael Imoudu In Death, Blocked Burial Funds — Daughter

According to her account, despite Pa Imoudu being named “labour leader number one” and having “led the first General strike in the history of the country,” the NLC under Oshiomhole, allegedly abandoned his family at the most critical moment, his burial.

Fresh revelations from the Imoudu family have reopened troubling questions about the role played by former Nigeria Labour Congress president and ex-Edo State Governor, Adams Oshiomhole, in what they describe as the deliberate humiliation of Nigeria’s foremost labour icon, Pa Michael Imoudu, even in death.

The allegations were laid bare by Pa Imoudu’s daughter, Dr Veronica Imoudu-Omosun, during remarks at the 20th posthumous anniversary of the late labour leader held on December 20, 2025, in Lagos.

According to her account, despite Pa Imoudu being named “labour leader number one” and having “led the first General strike in the history of the country,” the NLC under Oshiomhole, allegedly abandoned his family at the most critical moment, his burial.

She disclosed that a tripartite burial committee comprising the family, the NLC, and the Edo State government was set up after Pa Imoudu’s death in 2005. While “some funds were provided by the state government,” she said “none percolated to the family.”

She further revealed that although the NLC launched an “Imoudu Burial Appeal Fund” to which “affiliate unions, corporate organisations and various persons contributed,” the family never received burial support as expected.

As the burial date approached and no funds were released, the family reportedly mandated the eldest son, Dr Wilfred Imoudu, to approach Oshiomhole directly.

What followed, according to Dr Imoudu-Omosun, was a response that has since become a symbol of alleged disdain for a man who dedicated his life to workers’ struggles.

In denying the family any assistance, Oshiomhole reportedly asked: “Can’t you bury your father?”

Dr Wilfred Imoudu replied: “We can bury our father in our own way.”

Beyond the burial funds, she said Oshiomhole also played a central role in frustrating plans for a lying-in-state in Lagos, a city where Pa Imoudu spent most of his life and where workers were expected to “pay him their last respects.”

According to her, arrangements had been concluded to fly Pa Imoudu’s remains from Benin to Lagos and back on the same day, with the Air Force Base in Benin agreeing to handle the return flight “at a modest cost.”

Based on this, the NLC wrote to then Lagos State Governor Bola Tinubu on August 26, 2005, requesting support in the form of funds, a venue, and the release of workers.

While the Lagos State government provided Rowe Park, Yaba, as venue and granted a half-day holiday for workers, financial contributions were also made.

In a letter dated September 30, the Lagos State Government donated N1million to the NLC Lagos State Council and N2million to the NLC National Headquarters.

However, Dr Imoudu-Omosun said that “despite repeated demands,” Oshiomhole “refused to release part of the N2million to pay for the flight.”

As a result, she stated, “my father’s remains could not be flown to Lagos and, the Lying in state could not hold.”

The account has cast Oshiomhole’s celebrated labour credentials in a harsh light, especially given Pa Imoudu’s lifelong sacrifices.

Dr Imoudu-Omosun recalled that despite his “fame and virtual adoration by the people from the 1940s until his demise in 2005,” her father “was a poor man who never had enough money to build a house” and was once evicted from the modest home popularly known as “Imoudu House.”

She noted that it took the intervention of Chief Obafemi Awolowo to secure basic comfort for Pa Imoudu late in life, while his own labour movement allegedly failed him at death.

Although she said she was “happy this 20th Commemoration of Pa Imoudu’s passing is holding in Lagos,” she pointedly contrasted the present with the past, noting that it is now being jointly organised by the Imoudu Family and “a more responsive NLC leadership.”

For many labour historians and activists, the revelations revive uncomfortable questions about how Nigeria treats its heroes and how a former labour leader allegedly asked the family of the country’s greatest unionist, “Can’t you bury your father?”