By Issa Aremu 

Wednesday, January 7, 2026, all comrades, progressive forces, and well-wishers converged in Abuja for the 85th birthday celebration of Comrade Alhaji Hassan Adebayo (HA) Sunmonu, OON. Comrade HA was the pioneer, founding President of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), twice elected NLC President (1978 to 1984). He was the longest repeatedly elected former Secretary-General of the Organisation of African Trade Union Unity (OATUU), based in Accra (October 1986 to December 2012—some 26 years and two months). He was a regular delegate at conferences of the International Labour Organisation spanning decades. The high point of the 85th birthday celebration was the formal presentation of his memoirs entitled: ORGANIZE, DON’T AGONIZE.

Born with his identical twin brother, Engr. Hussein Sunmonu, on January 7, 1941, in Osogbo, Osun State, the Sunmonus are the most spectacular identical twins to see any day! It seems age sharpens their similarities in mannerisms and outlook. I recall that in 2010, HA was honoured by the Michael Imoudu Institute for Labour Studies (MINILS), Ilorin, with a fellowship in recognition of his consistent promotion of labour education. His twin brother, Hussein, represented him. As a privileged reciter of the profile of the recipient, only I and the then Director-General of the Institute, John Olanrewaju, knew it was Engr. Hussein Sunmonu who took centre stage and not Comrade HA! Many were in disbelief when Engr. Hussein disclosed that he was receiving the award on behalf of his twin brother, who could not come in person. The difference was not clear in their voices, gestures, and jokes.

HA is an acknowledged, tested, and committed trade unionist; a patriot, a Pan-Africanist, and a global citizen of profound integrity. He was raised and mentored in a developmentalist Nigeria and is a product of the then-functional public school system. He started his educational career at Ansar-Ud-Deen School, Osogbo, between 1948 and 1950. He attended All Saints School, Osogbo, between 1950 and 1954, where he obtained his First School Leaving Certificate in December 1954; in 1955, Osogbo Grammar School; then Yaba Technical Institute in September 1957. He obtained a General Certificate of Education (GCE) Ordinary Level in 1961, later earned the Secondary Technical Certificate, moved to Yaba College of Technology between 1961 and 1964, obtained the Ordinary National Diploma (OND) in Civil Engineering, and the Higher National Diploma (HND) in Civil Engineering. HA proceeded to Italy for a postgraduate diploma course in Highway Engineering.

His educational grounding shows that, contrary to the false class assumption of the ruling (ruining!) elite, the labour movement is indeed knowledge-led. One essential imprint of HA is cultivating a knowledge-based movement. As the founding President of the NLC, he consciously attracted first-class, class-conscious graduate activists to the NLC as full-time officers. On graduating in the late 1980s, he single-handedly pulled me out of an equally fulfilling media job to the NLC to swell the ranks of the NLC Secretariat, ably led by the late Dr. Lasisi Osunde, supported by tested comrades like Lawson Osiagie, Dr. Yahaya Hashim, Salisu Muhammed, Femi Aborishade, and a number of others. He pioneered the inclusion of labour candidates on the participants’ list of NIPSS, Kuru, Jos.

A witty wag and a “mobile library,” trade unionists and comrades alike globally cannot wait for his compelling memoir. As President of the NLC, he was a resource fellow at the seminar series of the Senior Executive Course (SEC 2) of 1980. After the usual question-and-answer sessions, he demanded labour participation at the executive course initiated by the Obasanjo military regime, meant to build capacity for executives drawn from the tripod of government, business, and labour communities, with the objective of working towards a better society. Since then, the NLC/TUC has sent scores of participants who are now members of the National Institute (MINILS).

HA was almost an activist by birth—and he is still organising at 85 (a national trustee of the Academic Staff Union of Universities, ASUU!). He was a star veteran speaker at the 2025 May Day rally at Eagle Square, Abuja. Once an organisational man, always one. Comrade Hassan Sunmonu was once an active students’ union leader: Secretary, Muslim Students’ Society (MSS), Yaba Technical Institute Branch (1958–1961); National Auditor, Muslim Students’ Society of Nigeria (1962–1967); President, Yaba College of Technology Students’ Union (September 1966–June 1967). He was President, National Association of Technological Students (NATS) (September 1966–June 1967), and Second Vice President, National Union of Nigerian Students (NUNS) (September 1966–June 1967).

His unblemished trade union career has spanned well over five decades. He was Second Assistant Secretary (International), Public Works, Aerodrome Technical and General Works’ Union of Nigeria (August 1974–November 1977); President, Civil Service Technical Workers Union of Nigeria (November 1977–February 1981); President, Nigeria Labour Congress (February 1978–February 1984); Director of Industrial Relations, Civil Service Technical Workers Union of Nigeria (March 1984–October 1986). Until recently, he was Secretary-General of the Organisation of African Trade Union Unity (OATUU) from October 1986. HA’s trade union career was built both through popular elections by workers’ votes and through formal appointments.

Following the recommendations of the Justice Adebiyi Tribunal of Inquiry into the Activities of the Trade Unions in 1977, under the military, some unionists, including the No. 1 labour leader, Chief Michael Imoudu, were “banned” from trade union activities. Under the controversial policy of “guided democracy” and “limited government intervention,” the Obasanjo military regime aimed at cultivating a tamed and subservient labour centre. However, workers reaffirmed their preference for an independent organisation by electing Hassan Sunmonu as the first President of the restructured Congress in 1978, with others like D. C. Ojeli, P. O. Ero-Philips, and the late M. E. Mpamungo as Deputy President, Treasurer, and Deputy Treasurer, respectively.

HA’s leadership of the NLC from 1978 to 1984 is a compulsory read for today’s trade unionists on how to operate under a democratic dispensation. The NLC under HA fought and won the battle to make May 1 a public holiday, and fought and won the struggle for a new national minimum wage of N125 ($240) in 1981 after a successful nationwide strike under President Shehu Shagari’s administration. Given the current poverty of knowledge on the imperatives of a national minimum wage among most state governors and legislators, I recommend Comrade Alhaji Hassan Adebayo and his memoirs for beginners in minimum wage determination through collective bargaining and collective action.

Notwithstanding the divisive strategy of Second Republic politicians aimed at splitting the NLC into “democrats” and “Marxists,” HA sustained the unity of the trade movement through an all-inclusive, ideologically driven approach. He championed similar unity efforts within the NLC in 2015 under his respected chairmanship.

Very few unionists courageously talked straight to power. The historic Charter of Demands under HA’s leadership remains the first agenda-setting document for decent work by Nigeria’s working class. As a worker, Comrade Hassan Sunmonu added value to developmentalist Nigeria. As an engineer with the Federal Ministry of Works, he worked on numerous office and road projects, including the Zaria–Kano Road reconstruction; the Igolo–Porto Novo Road (Benin Republic); the dualisation of the Denton Causeway (Oyingbo–Iddo, Lagos) by direct labour; the construction of the National Arts Theatre, Lagos; and the construction of the Third Mainland Bridge, Lagos, among others.

A multilingualist, he is fluent in Yoruba, English, French, Italian, and Twi (a Ghanaian language). HA has been honoured nationally and internationally. A recipient of the Officer of the Order of the Niger (OON) on December 18, 2001, he was also honoured with the National Order of Burkina Faso in December 2009.

Happy 85th birthday to HA, his twin brother, Hussein Sunmonu, and providentially his wife, Alhaja Wasilat Titilayo Sunmonu, who shares a birthdate with him and turns 76 today. Happy birthday to a legendary veteran comrade.