Labour and Trade Union
GRIEF AND OUTRAGE AS GUNMEN MURDER RETIRED MWUN VICE PRESIDENT-GENERAL IN RIVERS STATE
GRIEF AND OUTRAGE AS GUNMEN MURDER RETIRED MWUN VICE PRESIDENT-GENERAL IN RIVERS STATE
Maritime Workers’ Union Condemns Cold-Blooded Killing of Comrade Alfred Etete, Demands Justice
By Leslie Odeghe | Waterwaysnews.ng Reporter | PORT HARCOURT | March 04 2026
The Maritime Workers’ Union of Nigeria (MWUN) has been plunged into mourning following the brutal assassination of Chief Alfred Etete, a retired Vice President-General of the Union, who was shot dead in cold blood by yet-to-be-identified gunmen at his residence in the Agwut-Obolo community of Rivers State. The killing, which has sent shockwaves through Nigeria’s maritime labour community, has drawn fierce condemnation from the Union’s leadership and renewed urgent calls for security agencies to bring the perpetrators to swift justice.
“He came, saw and conquered — a jolly good Comrade whose service to his Union and community was abruptly cut short by enemies of mankind.”
— Comrade Francis Bunu Abi, President-General, MWUN
A LIFE OF DISTINGUISHED SERVICE
Before his untimely death, Chief Etete was a highly regarded figure both within the maritime labour movement and in his native community. He served the MWUN with exemplary dedication as Vice President-General of the Union’s Seamen Branch — a role in which colleagues recall him as being versatile, principled, and deeply committed to the welfare of fellow workers. Upon retirement, he had returned to Agwut-Obolo to contribute his vast wealth of knowledge and experience to community leadership, where he held the revered title of community chief.
His transition from a frontline maritime labour activist to a community leader was seen by many as a natural extension of a life devoted to service. Colleagues who served alongside him during his active years speak of a man of uncommon character — warm, reliable, and possessed of an extraordinary ability to connect with people across rank and station.
UNION LEADERSHIP SPEAKS OUT
MWUN President-General Comrade Francis Bunu Abi, visibly shaken by the news, led the Union’s formal response with words of both grief and anger. He described Etete as a consummate labour activist, a senior comrade, and a personal friend whose loss leaves an irreplaceable void in the maritime labour family.
“Comrade Etete was a very fine gentleman, a Comrade par excellence, and a role model worthy of emulation,” Bunu said in a statement issued through the Union’s Head of Media, Comrade John Kennedy Ikemefuna. “He served the Union diligently as Vice President-General before his retirement, and his strong penchant for relating with his fellow comrades cannot be equated with anything else. He was a jolly good comrade who came, saw and conquered.”
Bunu, himself a Niger Delta-born labour activist, did not mince words in condemning the assassination. He described the perpetrators as “enemies of mankind and agents of the underworld,” and called on the Nigeria Police Force and other security agencies to launch an urgent and thorough investigation to identify and apprehend the killers.
DEMAND FOR JUSTICE AND SECURITY ACTION
The MWUN’s condemnation carries with it a firm demand: that law enforcement agencies act with urgency and resolve. The President-General stressed that no individual or group possesses the right to take another person’s life, and that justice for Chief Etete must be pursued not only for his family’s sake, but for the sake of posterity and the rule of law.
“Nobody has the right of monopoly to take any one’s life in cold blood for any reason whatsoever,” Bunu declared. He expressed confidence that diligent security work would lead to the arrest of those responsible, a hope the Union shares with the Etete family and the broader Agwut-Obolo community.
The killing of Chief Etete adds to a deeply troubling pattern of insecurity that has plagued Nigeria’s Rivers State and the wider Niger Delta region, where community leaders, retired officials, and public figures have increasingly found themselves targets of violent attacks. Security analysts have repeatedly warned that the impunity with which such crimes are carried out serves to embolden criminal elements and erode public trust in law enforcement institutions.
CONDOLENCES TO THE FAMILY
In the same statement, MWUN extended its deepest condolences to the immediate family of Chief Etete, assuring them that the entire maritime labour family stands with them in this moment of profound grief. Comrade Bunu offered prayers for the repose of Chief Etete’s soul, and expressed his firm belief that God, in His providence, would not forsake the family the deceased left behind.
The Union also called on members of the Agwut-Obolo community and all those who served alongside Comrade Etete to remain calm and cooperate fully with security forces in the investigation, trusting that justice will ultimately prevail.
Late Chief Alfred Etete
BACKGROUND: MWUN AND THE FIGHT FOR MARITIME WORKERS’ RIGHTS
The Maritime Workers’ Union of Nigeria, one of the country’s most prominent sector-specific trade unions, represents thousands of workers across the nation’s ports, terminals, and waterways. The Union has long been a vocal advocate for the rights, welfare, and safety of maritime workers — and its leadership has not shied away from speaking truth to power on matters of social justice. The murder of a retired senior official of the Union underscores not only a personal tragedy, but also the very real dangers that continue to face community and labour leaders across Nigeria’s volatile South-South region.
— Additional reporting by Waterwaysnews.ng, from statement issued by Comrade John Kennedy Ikemefuna, Head of Media, Maritime Workers’ Union of Nigeria (MWUN).