Michael Imoudu

Michael Athokhamien Ominus Imoudu was born on September 7, 1902, in Afuze, Edo State. In 1928, he joined the Nigerian Railway Department in Lagos, where he witnessed appalling workplace exploitation and racial discrimination, prompting him to organize the Railway Workers Union, of which he was elected president in 1940.

Imoudu led historic protests for cost-of-living allowances during World War II, which led the colonial government to detain him under emergency regulations from 1943 to 1945. Released to a hero's welcome in Lagos, he immediately organized the 45-day 1945 Nigerian General Strike involving over 40,000 workers, paralyzing the colonial economy and winning substantial wage concessions. He remained the indefatigable conscience of the Nigerian working class for six decades.