Mr Kokori died 7 December following a prolonged kidney-related ailment
Frank Kokori, former General Secretary of the National Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers, is dead.
Mr Kokori, who also served as the Chairman of the board of the Nigeria Social Insurance Trust Fund, died 7 December following a prolonged kidney-related ailment.
The doctors confirmed Mr Kokori's passing around 6:40 a.m., Ovumedia Tobore, one of his personal assistants, told The Nation newspaper. The aide added that Mr Kokori's health relapsed on Monday and he was placed on life support.
He would have been 80 years today.
The Delta State Governor, Sheriff Oborevwor, had visited him on his sick bed in November.
Mr Kokori at the time lamented how he felt neglected by NUPENG during his stay at the hospital.
Mr Oborevwor however promised that the state government would do all in its power to assist Mr Kokori.
''I know people will think that because he is an APC chieftain I won't be here, Deltans voted for me as Governor. It is not a party matter now because we have finished the election and all of us are one.
''Whether he is APC or not, I'm the governor for all Deltans. So, I'm here as the governor for all, not for any political party,'' Punch newspaper quoted the Governor as saying.
Efforts made to reach Mr Oborevwor's media aide, Felix Ofou, proved abortive Thursday morning as his line was not connecting.
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Mr Kokori played a pivotal role in the protests against the annulment of Nigeria's presidential election on June 12, 1993, won by MKO Abiola.
Mr Abiola's was later arrested on charges of treason by the military.
The annulment and Abiola's detention sparked widespread protests and strikes, with workers' unions, including Mr Kokori's NUPENG, launching a nationwide strike in 1994 to demand Mr Abiola's release and inauguration.
In August of the same year, Mr Kokori was arrested and held without charges under the Sani Abacha military government, enduring solitary confinement in Bama Prison.
His release came in 1998 when General Abdulsalam Abubakar succeeded Mr Abacha and ordered the release of Mr Kokori and other political activists and journalists.
Nelson Mandela and Pope Saint John Paul II declared him a Prisoner of Conscience in 1997, a status endorsed by the International Labour Organisation (ILO) and Amnesty International (AI) from August 1994 to June 1998.
