Ex-NUPENG scribe Frank Kokori dies at 80
Former Secretary-General of the Nigeria Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers (NUPENG), Chief Frank Kokori, is dead.
Chief Kokori died in the early hours of Thursday at Mount Horeb Hospital, Warri, Delta State, where he had been hospitalized.
He was aged 80 – which he also clocked on Thursday.
He has been battling a kidney-related ailment for some months, raising an alarm about his health from his sick bed on November 9.
Chief Kokori, as the then General Secretary of the Nigeria Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers (NUPENG), led a historic six-month strike in 1994, which was a significant act of defiance against the Abacha regime.
The strike was not only a protest for labour rights but also a demand for the recognition of the annulled June 12, 1993, presidential election, which was believed to have been won by Chief Moshood Abiola.
The strike action and Kokori’s support for the June 12 movement led to his imprisonment, during which he became a symbol of the fight against oppression and a voice for the voiceless.
His activism drew international attention, with global figures calling for his release and labeling him a Prisoner of Conscience.
