Comrade Engr. Michael Osho Oshiobugie’s life is a story of resilience and sacrifice. Called “Mike Osho,” he recognised early on his intolerance for corruption and injustice. His activism began in secondary school, where interventions against cheating earned him a suspension that was only reversed by his father, a military officer.
At the University of Benin, he served as president of the Nigerian Universities Engineering Students Association (1994), parliamentarian of the Students’ Union Government, and student representative to COREN. He organised a nonviolent demonstration that pushed the university to transform its engineering faculty, and in 1996, he was elected SUG president.
His anti‑cultism campaign helped end campus killings and anchored student support for the June 12 struggle in Midwestern Nigeria. Arrested and jailed under Abacha, he was suspended from university, survived by learning tailoring, and returned to graduate with a second‑class upper in mechanical engineering (1999). Joining Transocean in 2001, he revived a moribund PENGASSAN branch, leaving a surplus after clearing debt. He chaired the Services Sector and fought corruption until victimisation cost him his job and national ambition.
Forced from oil union leadership, he turned to agriculture, engineering design, and fabrication, establishing farms and Oshonism Resources Ltd. Although setbacks, such as herdsmen attacks and the refusal to adulterate products, shuttered ventures, he pursued a master’s and later a PhD. Politically, he supports progressive labour causes, helped build the Labour Party alongside Femi Falana and others, and campaigned across Edo in 2023. As coordinator of the Liberal Progressive and Patriotic Congress and secretary of the Edo LP Congress Organising Committee, he continues to champion integrity, production‑led development, and rapid transformation for Edo State.
