With just a few weeks to the national delegates conference of the Radio, Television, Theatre and Arts Workers’ Union of Nigeria (RATTAWU), its National General Secretary, Mr Henry Odugale, died on Friday morning.
Reacting to the ugly incident, the National President of the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ), Mr Waheed Odusile, described the death as “a great loss to the labour movement and the media.”
Odusile, while speaking with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in a telephone interview on Friday, said that the death of Odugale was a great loss not only to the labour movement and the media industry but to the entire nation.
“Henry was a committed unionist, passionate about the welfare of workers; he was one of the prime movers for plans to have a special media salary for journalists.
“He remained committed to it, it is unfortunate that he had to go now but only God can condole his family because he has left a big vacuum not only in his family but in the media, as well.
“Two days ago, he was at our programme of the International Day to End Impunity for Crimes against Journalists and he spoke passionately as always about the welfare of journalists,’’ he said.
The President of RATTAWU, Dr Yemisi Bamgbose, described the death of Odugale as “devastating’’ to the union.
He explained that Odugale was a Vice President before becoming a General Secretary and was instrumental to several landmark achievements of the union.
“The death is devastating, it is unimaginable, I have lost a friend, a colleague, a compatriot; I have lost a brother, we have worked closely for several years, I am just not in the mood to talk,’’ he said.
Bamgbose said that the death was going to “affect RATTAWU in totality, not just the forthcoming national delegates’ conference alone.
“The National Delegates Conference will come and go, but we have lost somebody who is supposed to tell my story in RATTAWU.
“Odugale is a trade unionist to the core and he was very frank and loyal to the course of the union,’’ he said.
Mr Durosimi Dare, the Lagos State Council Chairman of RATTAWU, described Odugale as a “senior comrade and a pacesetter.’’
“He was the secretariat of RATTAWU and you can imagine somebody in charge of our secretariat at the national level dying some days to our national conference.
“He is someone that inspired us and is result-oriented, it is a blow to our secretariat,’’ he said.
Dare said that his death was a great loss that will affect the union’s impending delegates conference scheduled to hold from Nov. 16 to Nov. 18 in Kano.
Also, Mr Ayodeji Fadipe, NAN chapter Secretary of the union, said that the death came as a “rude shock.”
“We will miss Comrade Odugale, he was a special comrade, very good at coordinating the affairs of the union.
“It was during his time that the Weigh- in-allowance workers enjoyed was achieved; he was able to effectively coordinate and manage the affairs of the state chapters of the union,” he said.
Odugale, a former vice president of RATTAWU, who was later employed as national General Secretary of the union.
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