Obaidul Quader

Obaidul Quader (born 1 January 1952) , is a Bangladesh Awami League politician. He has served as the general secretary of the Bangladesh Awami League since October 2016. He was previously the Minister of Road Transport and Bridges from 2011 to 2024 and represented the Noakhali-5 Jatiya Sangsad member from 2009 to 2024. He was also the Media Adviser for the Bangladesh Awami League and regularly conducted press conferences on their behalf. Quader also served as the State Minister for Youth and Sports between 1996 and 2001.

Obaidul Quader has been alleged as one of the key perpetrators of the July massacre. He is wanted by the Bangladesh Police on charges of crimes against humanity.

He was reported to have been seen in Kolkata, India in April 2025.

Early life and education

Obaidul Quader was born on 1 January 1952 to Mosharrof Hussain and Begum Fazilatunnesa He completed his matriculation with a first division from Basurhat A. H. C. Government High School and Higher Secondary Certificate (HSC) from Noakhali Government College. He obtained a bachelor's degree in political science from the University of Dhaka. Quader retained the general secretary post in the Awami League's 22nd national council for a third consecutive term.

In 2018, Quader came under major criticism for his support for violently suppressing the initially peaceful 2018 Bangladesh road-safety protests and his infamous "kiss comment". His tenure as Minister of Road Transport and Bridges saw massive decline in road quality and reluctance in fixing broken roads, which were mostly left untreated and record amounts of road accidents which peaked in the year 2019 prior to COVID-19 pandemic on the following year. A total of 5,227 people, including 1,190 transport workers, lost their lives in 4,702 road accidents in the year 2019 alone. He discouraged Government accountability regarding road safety issues.

Following the fall of the Sheikh Hasina-led Awami League regime in 2024, Quader's home in Noakhali was vandalized and burned down in February 2025.

In an interview he recounted how his wife and he hid in a bathroom for five hours on the day that the government was toppled. He later stayed in Bangladesh for three months before fleeing to India.