The 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.
Dr. Olawepo-Hashim visited the 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 deceased.
Comrade Bolakale was a prominent human rights activist, labour leader 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.
He was also associated with Kwara Must Change (KMC), the state’s leading pro-democracy and civic advocacy organisation, and played a notable role in the _Otoge_ political movement, which remains a defining chapter in Kwara State’s democratic history.
Beyond Kwara, Bolakale was deeply connected to the organised labour and wider civil society movement. He was active in 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.
He was a close associate of the late Comrade Biodun Aremu, popularly known as Aremson, a Marxist-Leninist thinker and socialist activist described as an “organic intellectual” whose decades of engagement were devoted to workers’ rights, democratic struggles and Nigeria’s progressive civil society movement. Aremu was a leading figure in JAF, and his relationship with Bolakale underscored the strong link between Kwara-based activists and the national labour and pro-democracy movements.
Until his death, Bolakale was a staff member of the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN), Ilorin Airport, combining his professional career with steadfast commitment to human rights, labour and democratic activism.
His passing has been widely described as a great loss not only to his family, but to the broader community of human rights defenders, labour activists and pro-democracy campaigners.
During the visit, Dr. Olawepo-Hashim paid glowing tribute to Bolakale’s dedication to public service and civic activism, and extended his heartfelt condolences to the bereaved family.
The condolence visit also attracted members of the activist community who had worked with Bolakale at different periods of Kwara’s civic and democratic struggles.
Dr. Olawepo-Hashim was received by the deceased’s uncle, Justice Toyin Kawu, who was a classmate of Olawepo-Hashim at the School of Basic Studies, Ilorin.
For many of his associates, “CB” embodied a generation of activists whose engagement with public affairs went beyond electoral politics to encompass the defence of human rights, workers’ interests, democratic participation and accountable governance.
