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Train Attack: ‘The Owner Of This Phone Has Just Been Killed’

Published

3 years ago

April 10, 2022

…Kwara TUC Chair’s Widow Narrates How Her Husband Died

The widow of the Chairman of the Trade Union Congress (TUC) in Kwara State, Comrade Akinsola Akinwunmi, killed in last Monday’s Abuja-Kaduna train attack, managed to say a few words as tears flowed uncontrollably from her eyes.

Mrs. Modupe Akinwunmi Akinsola said her man was the best hubby as she believed he is resting in the bosom of the Lord.

According to her, she spoke to him on phone before the train attack only to call his phone later and a mortuary attendant picked the call and told her, her husband was dead.

Akinwunmi was not the only TUC official killed in the attack. Musa-Lawal Ozigi, Secretary General of the TUC, was another victim.

‘Nowhere is safe’
Confirming the death of the TUC officials, Quadri Olaleye, President of the union, said they were heading to Kaduna for an official assignment.

“Comrade Ozigi served in the capacity of General Secretary, Construction and Civil Engineering Senior Staff Association (CCESSA), an affiliate of TUC for almost two decades before he joined the Congress in 2012,” Olaleye said.

“Comrade Akinsola was a staff of Dangote Flour Mill under OLAM. They were both seasoned trade unionists.”

He called on governments at all levels, especially the Federal Government, to work towards securing the lives and property of Nigerians.

“As it stands, nowhere is safe now – we cannot travel by air, road is not safe and neither is the rail. Is Nigeria a failed state? It is unfortunate,” he said.

“The Congress condoles with the families and friends of our comrades and the good people of Kogi State for this irreparable loss.”

Sunday Vanguard gathered from one of the sympathizers, a member of the TUC, during a visit to the Akinwunmi family residence that he was hit by the stray bullets that were severally fired at the passengers by one of the bandits after the bomb attack.

“I spoke with him while inside the train some minutes earlier. He said he had left Abuja that he was inside the train on his way to Kaduna”, the widow told Sunday Vanguard.

“Moments later when I heard about the train attack, I immediately called him again, and his phone started ringing.

“I was initially happy expecting him to speak with me from the other end only for another voice to tell that he was a mortuary attendant, that the owner of the phone had died and that his body was with them.”

Meanwhile, Kwara State government has said that it would not leave the family alone in this trying period, and urged other stakeholders to rally round them.

Akinwunmi, in his forties, was a staff member of Dangote Group in Ilorin until the company was recently bought over and he was inaugurated as the TUC Chairman about two years ago.

Three children
Modupe, in her mid thirties, wept uncontrollably with her three children, two boys, one girl, as they sat on the sofa at their apartment at Ita-Elepa area of Ilorin on Wednesday as sympathizers thronged the place.

“I know that the almighty God has answered my prayers that wherever my husband is right now, he’s resting in the bosom of the Lord. My hubby was the best,” she said during the short interview with Sunday Vanguard.

Head of Service in Kwara State, Mrs. Modupe Susan Oluwole, who led a government delegation on a condolence visit, said the family will hear from Governor AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq on the support he would give to the family very soon and urged family and friends to provide immediate succor to the widow and children.

Oluwole said, “I want to join others in the call to Federal Government for better security in Nigeria. I know they are doing their best but God will help us to see the end of these crises in security.

“It is not easy for anybody, nobody is safe. It is not a question of I am safe, we are all in this together, so we must fight it together.

“I want to call on the family, especially those who will be here when all of us would have left, that they should provide succor to the immediate family. They should not leave this family alone.

“I know that His Excellency, the Governor of Kwara State, will recognize the role of labour and also recognize his own personal role as a labour leader.

“So, whatever it is that the governor can do to support, I am sure, we will convey the message by the grace of God. You will hear from us very soon.”

Good man
The late labour leader, from the aggregate of comments from stakeholders, including journalists, is generally seen as an exemplary good man, with kind heart and very generous too.

The Treasurer of TUC in Kwara State, Comrade Oyekale Rebecca Nike, said, “As you can see, I have not recovered from the shock of the news of his death.

We had lot of conversations few days before this rude shock came in.

“We had differences but we mended fences and moved on. Akinwumi was a friend and a boss.

“With this shock, I cannot describe what he was to me, but he was the Chairman and I am the Treasurer of the Trade Union Congress in Kwara. He was a very good man to me”

The PRO of the state TUC, Comrade Raheem Wasiu Oladimeji, on his part, said, “We shared a very cordial relationship, very close indeed. Akinsola Akinwunmi was a man of integrity, a dogged fighter and always stuck to his beliefs.

“He was a very generous personality, not because he was financially inclined; he had that spirit of giving, not only to his immediate family but also to all that came his way.

“He also demonstrated capacity, both intellectual and ability, to rally round any member in need not only TUC but also at his own local chapter at Dangote Group. “One of his latest significant impacts is the negotiation for the minimum wage payment in Kwara.

“I cannot imagine him, who warned and advised us whenever we traveled to Kaduna to be careful not to be kidnapped, now turned out a victim and killed. So sad!

“The load and responsibility he left behind are enormous especially at a time like this. I pray that God in His infinite mercies consoles the family and all dependants left behind.”

Governor AbdulRazaq earlier commiserated with the labour unions and the Akinwunmi family in a statement by Rafiu Ajakaye, his Chief Press Secretary.

The immediate past Chairman of the TUC in Kwara State, Comrade Kola Olumoh, in his own remark, said that he and the deceased were supposed to be part of the TUC executive meeting in Ilorin on Tuesday.

“The death was so shocking. Such a vibrant young man. We lost him. In fact, I am sad and really down. He’s a person with prospect”, Olumoh said.

“He’s come to know his rights and wrongs. We had issues before he came on board, you know, and he came to me and we resolved the matter. Since his inauguration, he’s been very diligent and resourceful”.

In another condolence message, a pro-democracy group, Kwara Must Change, sympathized with the state chapter of nTUC over loss of Akinwunmi.

The group also called for improved security, through overhaul of security architecture in the country.

In a statement by Kwara Must Change Convener, Abdulrazaq Hamzat, the group said that the train attack was an unfortunate development that should not have been allowed to happen.

VANGUARD

Related Topics:Kwara TUC chairman Train Attack

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Kimmel’s Suspension: Obama Slams Trump For ‘Dangerous’ Attack On Free Speech

Published

11 hours ago

September 19, 2025

Editor

Former United States President Barack Obama has condemned the suspension of the late-night show hosted by Jimmy Kimmel following remarks he made about slain conservative activist Charlie Kirk.

In a post on X on Thursday, Obama described the suspension of the show as a dangerous attack on free speech led by President Donald Trump.

He wrote, “After years of complaining about cancel culture, the current administration has taken it to a new and dangerous level by routinely threatening regulatory action against media companies unless they muzzle or fire reporters and commentators it doesn’t like.

“This is precisely the kind of government coercion that the First Amendment was designed to prevent — and media companies need to start standing up rather than capitulating to it.”

Obama’s comments came after ABC, owned by Walt Disney, announced on Wednesday that Jimmy Kimmel Live had been suspended indefinitely.

The decision followed threats of a federal investigation into Kimmel’s remarks about conservative activist Charlie Kirk, a close Trump ally who was shot and killed on September 10 while debating students at a Utah university.

During Monday’s broadcast, Kimmel accused Kirk’s supporters of using his assassination to “score political points.” At least one local ABC affiliate had already announced plans to stop airing the program before the network’s decision.

The suspension has sparked backlash from free speech advocates, who argue that the administration’s actions amount to political censorship.

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Ghana To Take More West African Deportees From US

Published

11 hours ago

September 19, 2025

Editor

Ghana will receive another 40 West Africans deported from the United States in the coming days, Foreign Minister Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa said, after the government revealed last week a deal had been struck with Washington.

Deporting people to third countries instead of their home nations has been a hallmark of US President Donald Trump’s crackdown on undocumented immigrants, notably by sending hundreds to a notorious prison in El Salvador.

Ghana President John Mahama announced last week that 14 deportees from the region had been sent to the country, sparking questions over their current whereabouts and pushback from the political opposition.

“On humanitarian grounds, pan-African solidarity, let us accept our fellow West Africans. And let’s make the point that Ghana is your home,” Ablakwa told Ghanaian broadcaster Channel1 TV late Wednesday.

He said the deportees, who are vetted before arrival, will be allowed to remain in Ghana temporarily, per regional visa-free travel rules, or return to their home countries.

The Ghanaian government previously said that many of the deported west Africans had already returned to their home countries — though lawyers in the United States say at least some of them are being held in military detention in Ghana in “cruel conditions”.

Five Nigerians and Gambians deported to Ghana were granted protection from deportation by immigration authorities in the United States, their lawyers said in a Tuesday statement.

If they continue on to their countries of origin, they risk “torture, persecution or death”, said Lee Gelernt, of the American Civil Liberties Union.

In an unprecedented move, Trump has overseen the deportation of hundreds of people to Panama, including some who were sent away before they could have their asylum applications processed.

Hundreds have also been sent to El Salvador, with the US administration invoking an 18th-century law to remove people it has accused of being Venezuelan gang members.

Some were sent despite US judges ordering the planes carrying them to turn around.

The deportation agreement with Ghana comes as Washington has hiked tariffs on Ghanaian goods and restricted visas issued to its nationals.

Headline

Putin Has ‘Let Me Down’, Trump Laments As UK State Visit Ends

Published

11 hours ago

September 19, 2025

Editor

Donald Trump warned that Russian President Vladimir Putin had “really let me down” as he met Prime Minister Keir Starmer for wide-ranging talks on Thursday, the final day of the US president’s historic UK state visit.

A day after King Charles III treated Trump to royal pageantry at Windsor Castle, the Republican flew to Starmer’s Chequers country residence for talks on thorny issues, including the wars in Ukraine and Gaza.

Starmer has positioned himself as a bridge between Trump and European allies, particularly on the war in Ukraine, in a bid to secure more commitments for Kyiv from the US leader.

And his calls, repeated again on Thursday, for more international pressure on Putin appear to be gaining more traction with Trump, who slammed the Russian leader for continuing the war despite his efforts to stop the fighting.

Trump told a post-talks press conference that he had thought the Ukraine conflict would be the “easiest” to end “because of my relationship with President Putin, but he’s let me down. He’s really let me down.”

He urged European nations to stop buying Russian oil, saying that “if the price of oil comes down, Putin’s going to drop out of that war.”

– ‘Unbreakable bond’ –

Starmer’s warm tone with the 79-year-old Trump has won some leniency in the president’s tariff war, with the British leader saying Thursday the trade deal the two countries signed in May was the first by the US and also “the best”.

But Trump said that the pair had “one of our few disagreements” about the UK’s plan to recognise a Palestinian state.

The US leader also offered strong thoughts on illegal migration in the UK, revealing that “I told the Prime Minister I would stop it”, even if it meant calling in the military.

Earlier in the day, Trump hailed America’s “unbreakable bond” with Britain as he and Starmer signed a huge tech deal, boosting ties in artificial intelligence, quantum computing and nuclear energy.

At the signing ceremony attended by a host of US tech CEOs, Labour leader Starmer said he and Republican Trump were “leaders who genuinely like each other.”

The deal comes on the back of pledges of £150 billion ($205 billion) of investment into the UK from US giants including Microsoft, Google and Blackstone.

Trump had earlier said goodbye to King Charles at Windsor, calling him a “great gentleman and a great king” as he left the castle heading to Chequers.

Appealing to Trump’s admiration for British wartime leader Winston Churchill, Starmer led the US president on a tour of Churchill artifacts at Chequers.

Starmer is facing political troubles at home after sacking his ambassador to Washington, Peter Mandelson, over his connections to disgraced late financier Jeffrey Epstein.

Sex offender Epstein has also haunted Trump over recent weeks, with further revelations about the pair’s relationship in the 1990s and early 2000s.

– ‘Highest honours’ –

Having negotiated the potentially perilous press conference relatively unscathed, Starmer can claim some justification for granting Trump an unprecedented second state visit, with investment deals and deepening alignment on Ukraine to show for the diplomatic effort.

Trump was Wednesday lavished with the full pomp and circumstance of the British state — the second time it has done so, after his first visit in 2019.

“This is truly one of the highest honours of my life,” Trump said at the state banquet.

The king meanwhile hailed Trump’s peace efforts and support of Ukraine, after a day featuring gun salutes, soldiers on horseback, and bagpipes, all designed to appeal to the US president’s fascination with royalty.

But he also stressed to Trump the need to protect the environment for “our children, grandchildren, and those who come after them”.

Melania Trump remained in Windsor on Thursday morning, where she met scouts with Princess Catherine, and viewed Queen Mary’s Doll’s House with Queen Camilla.

The US first lady’s husband was kept far from the British public, with an estimated 5,000 people marching through central London Wednesday to protest against his visit.

Trump was due to return to Washington later Thursday.