Presidential candidate of the Accord Party, Dr. Gbenga Olawepo-Hashim, has paid a condolence visit to the family of late civil rights leader and labour activist, Comrade Bolakale Salihu, popularly known as CB.
Hashim visited the deceased’s family at Ikokoro Compound, Ilorin South Local Government Area of Kwara State, where he commiserated with members of the family, friends and associates of the late activist.
Comrade Bolakale was a prominent human rights activist, labour unionist and civil rights campaigner in Kwara State.
He was a leader of the Committee for the Defence of Human Rights (CDHR) and was actively involved in civic and democratic advocacy in the state.
He was also associated with Kwara Must Change (KMC), Kwara’s prominent pro-democracy and civic advocacy organisation, and played a leading role in the Otoge political movement, which became a defining chapter in the state’s democratic and political history.
Beyond Kwara, Bolakale was connected to organised labour and the wider civil society movement. He was associated with the Joint Action Front (JAF), the Lagos based pro labour civil society coalition that has historically worked alongside organised labour and participated in Labour and Civil Society Coalition (LASCO) activities.
Bolakale was also a close associate of the late Comrade Biodun Aremu, popularly known as Aremson, a Marxist Leninist thinker, socialist fighter and “organic intellectual” whose decades of activism were closely associated with workers’ rights, democratic struggles and Nigeria’s progressive civil-society movement.
Aremu was a prominent figure in the Nigerian labour and civil society space and served as a leading figure in the Joint Action Front. His relationship with Bolakale reflected the wider connections between activists in Kwara and the national labour and pro-democracy movements.
Bolakale was also a staff member of the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN), Ilorin Airport, combining his professional career with longstanding involvement in human rights, labour and democratic activism.
His death has therefore been widely regarded by associates as a loss not only to his family but also to the broader community of human rights defenders, labour activists and pro-democracy campaigners with whom he worked.
During the condolence visit, Hashim paid tribute to Bolakale’s commitment to public service and civic activism, while commiserating with his family and associates over his passing.
The visit also brought together members of the activist community who had worked with Bolakale across different periods of Kwara’s civic and democratic struggles.
Hashim was received by Bolakale’s uncle, Justice Toyin Kawu, who was class mate with Gbenga Hashim at school of basic studies, Ilorin.
For many of his associates, “CB” represented a generation of activists whose engagement with public affairs extended beyond electoral politics into the defence of human rights, workers’ interests, democratic participation and accountable governance.