“The entire management and staff of DevReporting mourn the passing of a committed comrade, a soldier for the masses and a very principled fighter. It couldn’t have been a coincidence that Comrade Aremson died on a day a foremost labour movement in Nigeria, ASUU, declared nationwide strike. It is a sign of commemoration of his struggle for freedom,” Mr Alabi said.
One of the foremost labour activists in Nigeria and Secretary of the Joint Action Front (JAF), Abiodun Aremu, popularly called “Aremson,” is dead.
Many of the deceased associates and labour leaders, including rights activist and author, Owei Lakemfa; immediate past Coordinator of Lagos Zone of the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU), Laja Odukoya, a professor; Founder of the Centre for Anti-Corruption and Open Leadership (CACOL), Debo Adeniran, and a former student leader, Omoniyi Ibietan, among others, have continued to share their tributes in honour of Mr Aremu.
How Aremu died.
Mr Aremu, also a leader of the Amílcar Cabral Ideological School Movement (ACIS-M), a leftist organisation, which just opened its secretariat in Nigeria, was knocked down by a vehicle at about 8 p.m. on Sunday.
Mr Aremu reportedly left the new secretariat located around Sango Ota, Ogun State, at about 7:30 p.m. on Sunday, and while on his way to his home within the same axis, he was hit by a vehicle and was rushed to a hospital.
According to one of the comrades of the deceased, Olugbenga Abdulsalaam, Mr Aremu was pronounced dead at the undisclosed hospital.
Mr Abdulsalaam, a lecturer at the Lagos State University of Science and Technology (LASUSTECH), Ikorodu, said another member of ACIS-M, identified simply as Comrade Segun, was with Mr Aremu when the incident happened.
He said: “We have a secretariat for his movement (ACIS-M), which was opened in September. He has been resuming in that secretariat to put many things in place since it was opened last month. The center is located along that Sango axis. Yesterday, he was there as usual to do some work. This is because we gave him an assignment to complete for the organisation, and he closed around 7:30 p.m. with another Comrade, Segun. Unfortunately, he couldn’t get home.”
Once flown to Cuba
Hit by a cardiac crisis not long ago, Mr Aremu was flown to Cuba, a socialist island country in the Caribbean, where his health was managed.
Upon his return to the country, Mr Aremu paid glowing tributes to the comrades in the socialist country, thanking them for providing a home for him in a country of his dream.
Though not completely physically fit, Mr Aremu returned to the country to continue his pro-poor advocacy and labour rights campaigns.
The Team Lead of DevReporting, Mojeed Alabi, who said he received a message from Mr Aremu on Sunday morning, expressed grief over what he described as an unfortunate death.
“The entire management and staff of DevReporting mourns the passing of a committed comrade, a soldier for the masses and a very principled fighter. It couldn’t have been a coincidence that Comrade Aremson died on a day a foremost labour movement in Nigeria, ASUU, declared nationwide strike. It is a sign of commemoration of his struggle for freedom,” Mr Alabi said.
Burial arrangement
Meanwhile, according to a short statement signed on behalf of the comrades by Mr Lakemfa, Mr Aremu’s remains, earlier scheduled to be interred on Monday morning at his Sango home, will now hold on Thursday, 23 October.
According to the statement, the deceased’s family later agreed with the labour leaders to postpone the burial programme for a befitting ceremony for a comrade many described as a dogged fighter.
The statement reads in part: “The Aremu family has agreed with the Labour Movement that the interment of our leader, Comrade Abiodun ‘Aremson’ Aremu, be moved by about two weeks. This is to allow for proper mobilisation and attendance.
“Consequently, Comrade Aremu will now be interred on Thursday, 23rd October 2025, at Number 30, Kabiru Fatoye Street, Opposite Alaka Field, Ijako Sugar Bus Stop, Ifo Road, Lagos-Abeokuta Expressway.”
Mr LAkemfa commiserated with the family and comrades of the late activist, saying, “Our hearts are with the dear family of our departed Comrade.”
Tributes
In his piece titled; “Comrade Abiodun Aremu, history will absolve you” Mr Ibietan, a senior official of the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), traced his journey with the departed to 1992 when he visited his university- University of Abuja (now Yakubu Gowon University), to mobilise support for activists arrested by the military junta of Ibrahim Babangida.
In his tribute, a renowned professor of Political Science, Adele Jinadu, wrote: “May Comrade Aremu’s soul rest in peace. Despite his debilitating frail physique in later years, he was still a committed progressive political activist who relished and took in good faith good jokes and my own irritating and provocative jibes at him…”
Mr Lakemfa, who described Mr Aremu as one of the greatest revolutionaries and internationalists, said he was “an inimitable leader of the working class who developed structures for collaboration and development of the Labour Movement.”
He wrote: “The Comrade-Leader also built a movement, the Amilcar Cabral Ideological School (ACIS-M), mainly to conscience the youths, provide them praxis and encourage their development into full revolutionaries that can change the world.
“Aremu was also the Secretary of the Nigeria Movement for the Liberation of Western Sahara, and the Nigerian Movement of Solidarity with Cuba. He was a recipient of the Friendship Medal awarded by the Cuban Government to outstanding internationalists.”
Mr Adeniran, who posted on his Facebook page a picture he took with the deceased the last time he visited his office, described Mr Aremu as an uncompromising revolutionary.
Many individuals and organisations have flooded the deceased’s Facebook page to share glowing tributes, describing him as a rugged, dogged, and unrelenting fighter for democracy.
