By BIODUN OLAMOSU

Socialist Labour wishes to commiserate with both the biological and political family members of Comrade Abiodun Aremu (Aremson) for the big loss to the entire community of activists in the country and internationally.

We are proud of the legacy and tradition of struggle he left behind for others to take up the baton where he stopped. Comrade Aremson will forever be remembered for putting everything into the struggle as he never wavered or tired in providing leadership for not a few of such struggles in our chequered political history.

Hardly was any struggle of note in the past four decades without his involvement. He was always on the ground in initiating movements in the defence of the working people against their oppressors. He worked perfectly in the best tradition of a revolutionary as a devoted follower of Karl Marx, V. I. Lenin, Fidel Castro, Amica Cabral, Franz Fanon, Malcom X, Michael Imoudu, Ola Oni, Baba Omojola, Kolagbodi, Alao Aka-Bashorun, Gani Fawehinmi, Toye Olorode, Balarabe Musa, Bala Usman, Edwin Madunagu, Eskor Toyo, Dipo Fasina, etc.

There was never a dull moment for Comrade Aremson since he threw the whole of himself to the struggle as a student activist while a student of the Kwara State Polytechnic, Ilorin. The student movement of his generation on the platform of National Association of Nigerian Students (NANS) moved the cause of social change in Nigeria to greater heights. It is significant to say that he made up his mind early in life to pursue the cause of social change as no other thing appealed to him. According to him, the contact he had with the duo of Ola Oni and Tai Solarin while in high school in Ibadan convinced him of the path he took later for the rest of his life in fighting for social justice, social equality, economic and political freedom.

It would be recalled that Aremson was a master in all branches of revolutionary activities that include organisation, propaganda, mobilisation, and training of the next generation of activists.

The core of his political interventions remained the working class, and this informed the strategic alliances the organisations co-led by him had with the trade union movement at different levels. This played out with struggles waged for the past two to three decades with NLC and TUC on the platforms of LASCO and later JAF.

His total commitment to the struggles he was involved in achieving success distinguished him as a fighter of high calibre, and this earned him respectability by both the young and the old in the movement. Hence, the reason he Is being described with the accolade of a Field Marshal of our popular struggle. His exemplary role in the struggle for June 12 movement (1993 – 1999), that was the closest to a revolutionary process of our dream, rightly defined Aremson as class fighter of our time who is reliable, trustworthy and dependable to lead the rest of us to the ‘promised land’.

Comrade Aremson, we are all proud of you for lifting the scale of our movement than you met it, Rest in power.

•Biodun Olamosu is National Secretary, Socialist Labour.