Ogun workers protest Governor Abiodun’s unkept promises, citing unpaid wages, pensions, and lavish spending. Strike action begins Tuesday, July 15, 2025

Six years ago, Prince Dapo Abiodun stood before the hardworking men and women of Ogun State and called his campaign promises “sacred.”

Also read: Dapo Abiodun’s Educational Qualifications: The Moral Burden

He spoke with deep emotion, reminding everyone that his parents were teachers; civil servants, whose fair treatment by past governments paved the way for his own success.

He assured labour leaders that he would never forget that debt.

In his words: “If my teacher parents had not been treated fairly and with dignity, I may not be where I am today.”

But today, the same workers who clapped for him then are now clapping back—with empty pockets, broken trust, and unanswered questions.

The streets of Ogun are not quiet yet, but tension is thick.

If my teacher parents had not been treated fairly and with dignity, I may not be where I am today.

Labour unions have declared a total, indefinite strike beginning Tuesday, July 15, 2025.

The reason? A long list of betrayal and nonchalance that has left workers angry, abandoned, and unheard.

Among the grievances: over ₦180 billion in unremitted pension deductions, eight years of unpaid leave allowances, a non-implemented ₦77,000 minimum wage, frozen promotions, and stagnant pension rates despite the skyrocketing cost of living.

These are not fresh complaints. They’ve been raised again and again.

What’s new, however, is the final straw that broke the camel’s back: the Governor’s recent luxury birthday bash.

While pensioners begged for survival and workers counted coins to feed their families, Governor Dapo Abiodun was busy hosting a celebration that could rival the weddings of billionaires.

Cameras flashed. Music blasted. Celebrities smiled. All while the average Ogun worker watched from the sidelines; unpaid, unseen, and unacknowledged.

It is the kind of contradiction that offends the soul.

This is a man who once stood on the podium and told workers: “Our party is not anti-labour. We will not disappoint you.”

Today, disappointment is an understatement. What they feel now is betrayal—sharp, heavy, and humiliating.

In his 2019 campaign speech, the Governor promised an administration built on inclusion, dignity, and sincerity.

He said workers were central to his “Building Our Future Together” mission. But somewhere along the way, that future became blurred, and those sacred words became just… words.

So now the workers are speaking their own truth. And they’re not mincing words.

With the full backing of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), Trade Union Congress (TUC), Joint Negotiating Council (JNC), NUT, NULGE, and other affiliates, public servants across the state have been directed to stay at home.

No teaching. No filing. No pretending. The streets are about to send a message: you cannot treat us like background noise and expect applause.

This strike isn’t just about money—it’s about dignity. It’s about workers who feel lied to.

It’s about citizens who believed in a man that claimed to understand their pain, only to now watch him turn his back in their moment of need.

The big question remains: How did a Governor who once made workers the heart of his campaign now leave them out in the cold?

Also read: Dapo Abiodun: A desperate governor scrambling to salvage a tarnished reputation ahead of 2027

And more importantly: Will he continue to host parties while the system falls apart beneath him—or will he finally return to the promises he once called sacred?

Rtn. Victor Ojelabi

Ojelabi, the publisher of Freelanews, is an award winning and professionally trained mass communicator, who writes ruthlessly about pop culture, religion, politics and entertainment.