Reported by Ariajegbe Sylvia Esezobor
The Nigeria Labour Congress in Delta State has declared an indefinite strike and shut down the state secretariat in Asaba following the death of a Deputy Director in the Ministry of Secondary Education, Mr Unity Ekpevbughe Adeda, who died a day after an alleged assault during a confrontation at the Prof Chike Odozien Secretariat. Workers locked the entrances to the complex, paralysing official activities across all government offices within the secretariat, and declared that they would not return to their duties until the state government provided satisfactory assurances regarding their safety and ensured accountability for Adeda’s death.
Adeda, a 54-year-old Level 16 officer, reportedly died on Friday at the Federal Medical Centre in Asaba, a day after the incident at his workplace. Sources familiar with the matter alleged that the confrontation involved the Commissioner for Basic and Secondary Education, Dr Kingsley Ashibogwu, and that Adeda was assaulted during the encounter. The allegation of assault has not been independently established, and the circumstances surrounding Adeda’s death remain under investigation. The NLC Chairman, Comrade Goodluck Ofobruku, said workers could no longer accept what he described as an unsafe working environment for civil servants. “We’re declaring dispute with the Delta State Government. For that reason, we’re withdrawing our services with immediate effect,” Ofobruku said. “Whoever is responsible for the beating of this worker that led to his untimely death must be brought to book before we can come back.”
The accounts of what happened are sharply conflicting. The commissioner, Ashibogwu, denied ordering or participating in any assault, claiming instead that Adeda physically attacked him and other staff members. “Oh, I didn’t. Rather, the man even assaulted me, assaulted people in the office. There are video clips to it, where he was using his private vehicle to hit the staff vehicle,” he said. “Before I knew what was happening, it was attack on me, physical. Direct attack. My clothes are there. I never ordered any person to touch him, I never touched him.” He alleged that Adeda had threatened some workers before returning to confront him. The deceased’s sister, Ovwigho, gave a starkly different account. She said she received a distress call informing her that her brother had been badly beaten and found him tied inside a vehicle at the hospital. “I saw him tied up like a criminal. His entire body was filthy, blood was coming out of his mouth and nose, and his head was badly swollen,” she alleged. She said Adeda told her he had been summoned by the commissioner and assaulted by men allegedly acting on the commissioner’s orders.
The Delta State Police Command has commenced an investigation, with the Homicide Section of the State Criminal Investigation Department directed to conduct what the command described as a thorough and impartial inquiry. The Police Public Relations Officer, SP Bright Edafe, said three aides to the commissioner were named in the complaint: Enos Attah, Oputa Okestine and Lucky Adoh. Adoh has been arrested, while efforts are ongoing to apprehend the other two. Edafe said investigators would examine all available evidence, including video footage, eyewitness accounts and medical records, to establish what transpired and determine whether anyone was culpable. The Commissioner of Police, CP Samuel Erale, assured the family of the deceased that the command would neither shield nor spare anyone found culpable, irrespective of status or position, and appealed to the public to remain calm and avoid reaching conclusions before the investigation is completed.
The state government has also constituted an administrative panel chaired by the Permanent Secretary in the Office of the Head of Service, Mrs Charity Ehimen, to investigate the circumstances surrounding Adeda’s death. The panel was given two weeks to complete its assignment. The Commissioner for Works (Rural Roads) and Public Information, Mr Charles Aniagwu, who addressed the protesting workers on behalf of the government, said the matter would not be swept under the carpet. “There are different conjectures as to what may have led to the death of our brother who passed in the hospital. Perhaps, as the autopsy would have been able to establish, what transpired and indeed medical examination will determine the cause of death,” Aniagwu said. He stressed that every human life deserved to be protected, regardless of the person’s status or relationship to others, and commended the workers for handling the protest peacefully.
The Chairman of the Joint Civil Service Negotiating Council, Comrade Benson Efeotor, said efforts had begun to establish the facts surrounding the incident. He disclosed that he had visited the Ministry of Education to obtain information about the deceased, who he said worked at the Science Centre, and appealed to workers to remain calm and avoid violence or destruction of property while discussions with the government continued. The protest disrupted activities across the secretariat, with labour leaders cautioning workers against actions that could aggravate an already sensitive situation.
The development has placed significant pressure on the state government to provide a transparent account of what transpired before Adeda was hospitalised and subsequently died. The incident has raised fundamental questions about the safety and welfare of civil servants within government premises, particularly in environments where senior officials and subordinates interact over matters that can escalate quickly. The NLC has consistently argued that the protection of workers is not a privilege but a statutory obligation on employers, and that state governments must be held to the same standards they demand of private organisations.
The strike comes amid heightened tension in Delta State’s workforce following the implementation of the new national minimum wage and ongoing disputes over the computation of the salary structure. Similar grievances have surfaced across states, and the Delta shutdown adds to a broader pattern of labour unrest that has accompanied the wage adjustment. The political backdrop is equally charged, with the 2027 general elections less than four months away and the conduct of state officials increasingly under scrutiny. The death of a civil servant in a government complex will add to the scrutiny of how public institutions treat their employees.
For the family of Unity Ekpevbughe Adeda, the autopsy and the twin investigations by the police and the administrative panel represent the only available route to understanding what happened in the final hours before his death. For the NLC, the shutdown is both a protest and a negotiating position. The union has made clear that it will not return to work until the government provides credible assurance that the culprits will be held accountable and that workers will be protected. Whether that assurance comes in the form of arrests, suspensions, a judicial inquiry or a combination of measures will determine how quickly the secretariat reopens. The coming days will determine whether the government’s response is sufficient to restore confidence and reopen the complex, or whether the shutdown becomes another prolonged confrontation between labour and the state.
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