Read this article in:
12 August, 2005ICEM News release No. 64/1998
"We need democracy in Nigeria, and the pro-democracy movement is gathering strength every day. But even once we achieve political democracy, we will need to maintain the pressure so that we can have a cleaner society."
Nigerian oilworkers' leader Milton Dabibi emphasised this in a phone interview with ICEM UPDATE this evening. Dabibi had just arrived in Port Harcourt after his release from prison earlier this week. He had been detained without charge or trial for more than two years.
Dabibi is General Secretary of Nigerian oil and gas workers' union PENGASSAN, which is affiliated to the 20-million-strong International Federation of Chemical, Energy, Mine and General Workers' Unions (ICEM).
The ICEM led a worldwide trade union campaign for his release and for that of Frank Kokori, General Secretary of ICEM-affiliated Nigerian oil and gas workers' union NUPENG. Dabibi and Kokori were among the first nine Nigerian detainees to be released this week. About a hundred political prisoners are still being held in Nigerian jails.
"Without the ICEM and the world trade union movement, I wouldn't be alive today," commented Dabibi, who said he now felt "fine" after a few days' rest. "I wasn't allowed to see anyone while I was in prison, not even my wife. But brief notes smuggled in to me occasionally let me know you were all out there pushing for my release. It was the feeling that people somewhere cared about me that enabled me to endure. I don't have the words to express my thanks to trade unionists everywhere."
He paid tribute to his wife for her tireless campaigning on his behalf, and to the work of Amnesty International, which adopted him as a prisoner of conscience.
Dabibi said that, before commenting in detail on the current trade union and political situation, he wanted "time to size up the civilised world again first."
However, he had already had the opportunity to talk to PENGASSAN officers and members. "What is clear is that they want a real union again. The union has been castrated. The presence of a government-imposed administrator means that the membership can't decide freely on the future of the union and of its leadership. So first of all, we have to convince the government to withdraw the administrator."
This would be achieved, he thought, although "not within one or two days."
"We are working side by side with the democracy movement people here," Dabibi said. "And that means that trade union rights are on the democracy movement's agenda. If they prevail, we will prevail. We need freedom of association. We need freedom of the press. We need free and fair elections. We need a police force that is used only to protect civil society. And if there really still has to be a national security service, then it should concern itself with national security - not with chasing trade unionists and democrats."
Nigerian oilworkers' leader Milton Dabibi emphasised this in a phone interview with ICEM UPDATE this evening. Dabibi had just arrived in Port Harcourt after his release from prison earlier this week. He had been detained without charge or trial for more than two years.
Dabibi is General Secretary of Nigerian oil and gas workers' union PENGASSAN, which is affiliated to the 20-million-strong International Federation of Chemical, Energy, Mine and General Workers' Unions (ICEM).
The ICEM led a worldwide trade union campaign for his release and for that of Frank Kokori, General Secretary of ICEM-affiliated Nigerian oil and gas workers' union NUPENG. Dabibi and Kokori were among the first nine Nigerian detainees to be released this week. About a hundred political prisoners are still being held in Nigerian jails.
"Without the ICEM and the world trade union movement, I wouldn't be alive today," commented Dabibi, who said he now felt "fine" after a few days' rest. "I wasn't allowed to see anyone while I was in prison, not even my wife. But brief notes smuggled in to me occasionally let me know you were all out there pushing for my release. It was the feeling that people somewhere cared about me that enabled me to endure. I don't have the words to express my thanks to trade unionists everywhere."
He paid tribute to his wife for her tireless campaigning on his behalf, and to the work of Amnesty International, which adopted him as a prisoner of conscience.
Dabibi said that, before commenting in detail on the current trade union and political situation, he wanted "time to size up the civilised world again first."
However, he had already had the opportunity to talk to PENGASSAN officers and members. "What is clear is that they want a real union again. The union has been castrated. The presence of a government-imposed administrator means that the membership can't decide freely on the future of the union and of its leadership. So first of all, we have to convince the government to withdraw the administrator."
This would be achieved, he thought, although "not within one or two days."
"We are working side by side with the democracy movement people here," Dabibi said. "And that means that trade union rights are on the democracy movement's agenda. If they prevail, we will prevail. We need freedom of association. We need freedom of the press. We need free and fair elections. We need a police force that is used only to protect civil society. And if there really still has to be a national security service, then it should concern itself with national security - not with chasing trade unionists and democrats."