By Bose Adelaja

It was, indeed, a moment of mourning for staff and members of Nigerian Union of Local Government Employees, NULGE, Lagos State chapter, who lost a colleague, a staffer of Odiolowo/Ojuwoye Local Government Council Development, LCDA, in  tragic circumstances, on Wednesday, March 28.

The father of three, Fatai Olamilekan Odeniyi, 44, who had been a staffer of the council, since 2010, met his untimely death at the headquarters of West African Examinations Council WAEC, Yaba, Lagos, where he has gone to collect  his senior secondary school  certificate.

Activities at the WAEC office were disrupted for hours, on  Thursday, as the NULGE members stormed the office to protest what they described as injustice and negligence  on the part of the examinations  council.

As early as 7 a.m. on that day, the union  members, led by their chairman, Comrade Ayinde Akinsanya,  first  converged at the Odiolowo/Ojuwoye LCDA before leaving in  a convoy for the WAEC office where they took charge of its two entrances thereby preventing WAEC staffers from gaining entry.

The workers carried  placards like, ‘We demand for justice’, ‘In justice, we stand’, ‘Who killed Comrade Odeniyi’, ‘WAEC officials must be prosecuted for murder, ‘The blood of Fatai cries for justice’, as they sang solidarity songs.

For fear that the protest might be hijacked by hoodlums, WAEC authorities called  in  the police at Sabo Division to dislodge the protesters, but the effort was  futile as the NULGE members  stood their ground. Some of the workers, who spoke with Sunday Vanguard, said they were aggrieved because WAEC  had not taken any step to contact the LCDA since the incident happened about a week earlier. “To our dismay, some  (WAEC) officials boycotted NULGE and travelled to the deceased’s hometown to offer peanut to the family which was rejected by the aggrieved family.

...Late Fatai

Our colleague would have been alive today if not for WAEC negligence. We are sure this is going to expose a hidden agenda as we believe some unscrupulous elements  must have siphoned the allocation meant to carry out  repair work on the damaged elevator which has been claiming lives,” said Mrs. Alimot Mudashiru and Peju Adepegba.

Akinsanya, the NULGE chairman, said  his  members decided to embark on the protest having waited  without  response from WAEC.

Our claims
Said he: “Our colleague died in tragic circumstances which could have been avoided if the elevator in question had been put in good condition by WAEC. Odeniyi was a father of three and the widow is jobless at home. We want WAEC to offer her employment and offer scholarship to the three children up to the university level. Also, his aged parents are in the mournful situation in the village, having lost their only son and breadwinner. WAEC should pay a compensation sum of N1 billion  to the family members.”

At the end of the day,  the WAEC management  succumbed  to the protesters demand  and settled for  dialogue after which a closed door meeting was held between the two parties and a compromise reached. After the meeting, Akinsanya told his colleagues:

“I thank you for the support and dedication  given to our late comrade. We want to thank you for conducting yourselves in a peaceful manner. The fear was that this place is a volatile area, and that  hoodlums might hijack the exercise from us, but we want to thank the Almighty Allah that the situation is under control since we came here today.

We have entered into dialogue with the management of WAEC, and they are willing to dialogue with us to see how the deceased’s family could be compensated and he is laid to rest. We cannot do that without the representatives of the family and management team of the LCDA in question. We have agreed to meet on Wednesday April 18 where all the representatives will be present.”

The deceased  had been, penultimate Wednesday, found unconscious inside WAEC’s elevator which caved in only for him  to give up the ghost on the way to LUTH and his body deposited in a morgue.

Sunday Vanguard  contacted  WAEC on the issue, but  the PRO, Mr. Ari, referred us to the Nigeria Police.