IF, as the Bard of Avon said, all the world is a stage, he certainly played his part to roaring applause, and will never be forgotten. The inimitable, indefatigable Gani Fawehinmi, Nigeria’s first Senior Advocate of the Masses (SAM), said of him during his lifetime: “You stand proud, tall and indeed gargantuan, before the diminutive Lilliputians who incarcerated you and are still oppressing and tormenting millions of Nigerians.” And nothing could be truer. There are very few Nigerians who earned the right to be called the people’s General, and Frank Ovie Kokori, elder statesman, union leader, democracy activist and erstwhile General Secretary of the Nigeria Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers (NUPENG), was certainly one of them. The curtains were drawn on his odyssey at a private hospital in Warri on Thursday, December 7, coincidentally his 80th birthday. The culprit was kidney ailment, but fond memories of his act will live for long.
On November 9, Kokori had, from the discomfort of his hospital bed, made an impassioned plea, lamenting his abandonment by the powers that be in spite of his huge contributions to Nigeria’s democracy, and a throng of dignitaries, including the Delta State governor, Honourable Sheriff Oborevwori; former Deputy President of the Senate, Senator Ovie Omo-Agege, among others, had visited him and offered words of comfort and prayers for speedy recovery. But his act had ended, and the tributes have been massive. President Tinubu, in a statement signed by his Special Adviser on Media and Publicity, Ajuri Ngelale, said: “Frank Kokori was a thoroughbred democrat and activist. He fought for democracy at a great personal cost. He surrendered his liberty to fight for truth and justice. He was the finest among reformers and champions of civil rights in Nigeria. He was a brother in the June 12 struggle. He was uncompromising, unbending, and irrepressible. He was an exemplary comrade.”
On his part, former Vice President Atiku Abubakar described him as a man of the people who was well-loved for his sincerity, principles, and sense of purpose. He said: “Chief Kokori was a foremost figure in the June 12 struggle where he and other individuals played key roles in the quest to re-validate the June 12, 1993, presidential election.” The Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), in a tribute signed by its President, Joe Ajaero, said Kokori would be remembered for being one of the labour leaders who gave their all for the country to have democracy. Ajaero said: “He was arrested and detained by the military alongside other labour leaders for spells of time under inhumane conditions. Before his arrest and detention by the Abacha-government, Kokori was in the vanguard of labour leaders who fashioned an alliance with the Social Democratic Party (SDP)… Chief Kokori, among other labour leaders, was arrested and incarcerated while others were hounded out of the country.” NUPENG, for its part, lauded him as “a great labour icon,” who “ contributed to our collective struggles for the emancipation of the working people for the greater good to all and sundry.”
Born on December 7, 1944 in Warri, Delta State, Kokori attended Urhobo College, Warri, between 1959 and 1962 and Eko Boys High School, Lagos, until 1964. For his university education, he was at the University of Ibadan. Postgraduate education took him to the Institute of Social Studies in The Hague, The Netherlands. Kokori, after working as a clerk at the Electricity Corporation of Nigeria and as a district sales representative at Lever Brothers Nigeria Ltd, was appointed general secretary of the National Union of Nigeria Bank Employees, a position which he held for three years before he became the General Secretary of NUPENG.
Nigerians will never forget his role in the struggle for the revalidation of the annulled June 12, 1993 presidential election won by the late Chief MKO Abiola. Kokori was one of the heroes who engaged in conscientization and extensive mobilisation of the Nigerian masses in revolt against the military’s act of bad faith. He insisted that Nigeria had conducted a presidential election and a clear winner had emerged and must be inaugurated as president. He participated in various protest marches, rallies and processions, calling for the restoration of Abiola’s mandate. Along with other notable Nigerians, many of whom have since transited to the great beyond, he forged alliances aimed at presenting a united resistance to military rule. Mobilising oil workers, he literally brought the military government to its knees, and the manhunt launched to track him down, which he evaded for some time before being eventually captured, was fierce. He was clamped in jail by the Sani Abacha junta without any hope of release for as long as the military presided over the country’s affairs, but Abacha’s death and the consequent transition programme undertaken by the Abdulsalami Abubakar regime brought him back home.
Fortunately, Kokori did not leave himself without a witness. His book, Kokori: The Struggle for June 12, “details the roles he and other individuals played in the quest to revalidate the June 12, 1993 presidential election, which was annulled by General Ibrahim Babangida.” Kokori , who was national financial secretary of the Social Democratic Party (SDP), the party which should have formed the government after the 1993 general election, even while he held the fort as a national official of NUPENG. He made no secret of his political affiliations and his desire to see a Nigeria restored to democratic rule and to prosperity. Kokori was a dogged fighter for democracy, an uncompromising activist who staked almost all he had, including his life, so that Nigeria could have democratic rule. He confronted the military establishment head long, and was severely maltreated for his activism. Even in his old age, he continued to fight for a better Nigeria.
No doubt, Kokori dreamt of a great Nigeria right from his youth. A member of the 1987/1988 Constitution Review Committee and the 1988/1989 Constituent Assembly headed by Anthony Aniagolu, a former Supreme Court justice, Kokori said in an interview with this newspaper in 2020: “We were expecting an Eldorado during the struggles for freedom. Unfortunately, some of us were young students at that time. I was already in secondary school when we got independence. I was very abreast of politics at that early age; we read newspapers, listened to the radio, and followed Azikiwe, Awolowo, Tafawa Balewa, Ahmadu Bello and the rest.”
Adieu, Frank Ovie Kokori.
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