The action taken by the DSS in Kaduna state to sue Engineer Khalid Aminu for libel for speaking out about the torture he experienced during his illegal arrest and detention for over 60 days following last year’s #EndBadGovernance protest is vexatious and utterly reprehensible.
As the State High Court in Kaduna State prepares to hear a case of libel brought by the Department of State Services (DSS) against Engineer Khalid Aminu, we of the Youth Rights Campaign (YRC) consider it imperative to ask the DSS, Kaduna state division, to hands off comrade Aminu and desist from further raising tension in the polity through flagrant legal processes aimed at muzzling voices of opposition and legitimate dissent. Instead we ask the DSS to tender a public apology and pay adequate compensation to Engineer Khalid Aminu for arresting and detaining him for over 60 days illegally and in violation of his rights and civil liberties.
In the said suit which is scheduled to be heard on Tuesday 25 February 2025, the DSS is asking Khalid Aminu to publish a public apology in “two widely read National Newspapers and all his Social Media Platforms retracting the said Negligent Misstatement”. Also the DSS is seeking the honourable court to issue an order granting one hundred million naira as general damages against the defendant and 60 million naira as cost of action. In total, the DSS is seeking damages worth 160 million naira against Engineer Khalid Aminu for speaking out about his illegal arrest and torture last year by operatives of the agency.
Recall that Engineer Khalid Aminu was one of the key organisers of the #Endbadgovernance protest which rocked Kaduna state and several states in the country between 1st and 10 August last year. The protest which erupted due to the impact of the anti-poor and neo-liberal policies of the Tinubu capitalist administration on prices of fuel, food and the overall cost of living has become an enduring symbol of resistance in Nigeria as it highlights how citizens facing starvation and hunger due to terrible government policies can unite and organize to peacefully demand accountability.
Instead of responding to the protesters’ demands, the Tinubu regime embarked on widespread crackdown with police and other security agencies unleashing a killing spree which left about 40 Nigerians dead while about 2,100 others including minors were arrested and thrown into jail.
Khalid Aminu was arrested while mobilising for the protest and he was brutally beaten before he was taken into detention. While in detention, Aminu was denied access to his family and legal representation for several weeks– a reason why his family initially thought he was kidnapped not knowing he was wasting away in a DSS cell. After his release, Khalid Aminu, who still suffers untold physical and psychological damages from his experience, has been telling his story in the process exposing the sordid detail of the inner workings of Nigeria’s ruthless security apparatus especially the shadowy DSS.
This legal step taken by the DSS is not only an abuse and a waste of tax payers’ money, it is also an attempt to shutdown Khalid Aminu in order to cover up the brutality and torture that has become a routine of security operatives in Nigeria despite the country being signatory to numerous international treaties and conventions that forbids torture of prisoners and detainees.
We hereby call on the DSS to halt this reckless and vexatious effort to harass Khalid Aminu into silence.
WE CONDEMN THE VIOLENT CLAMPDOWN ON THE PEACEFUL PROTEST OF FEDERAL UNIVERSITY LOKOJA STUDENTS BY POLICE AND DSS OFFICERS
ALL THE DEMANDS OF THE STUDENTS FOR A SAFE CAMPUS MUST BE MET!
The Education Rights Campaign (ERC) sternly condemns the violent clampdown on a peaceful protest organized by students of Federal University Lokoja over the tragic death of 4 students of the school. While throwing our weight behind the mass of Federal University Lokoja students, we warn the authorities against any attempt to victimize students over their legitimate agitations for a safe learning environment.
Recall, that on Monday, 17th of February 2025 a shuttle bus containing 4 students and the driver was crumpled by a heavy truck which led to the death of 4 students and the bus driver, while the only survivor is in a critical health condition. Following this tragedy, students gathered to mourn their colleagues’ painful loss and demand a safe campus. On Thursday February 20, students gathered at the school gate to continue their peaceful protest for a safe campus. Just a few hours into the protest, the University management under the leadership of Professor Olayemi Akinwumi, ordered the indefinite closure of the school, asking all students to vacate the school premises by 12 noon. This meant that students had just one hour to prepare to leave, including those traveling long distance. This act is condemnable, and it is a sheer attempt to shut the voices of students. One would expect a responsible university management to rather begin the process of ensuring the safety of students instead of trying to shut down their voices. Also, the school management mobilized Policemen and DSS officers to unleash havoc on students.
The use of brute force on protesting students who had conducted themselves peacefully is an attack on democratic rights. The Vice-Chancellor, Prof. Olayemi Akinwumi is an enemy of the students and an enemy of public education. Since becoming Vice-Chancellor, he has implemented policies that have led to excruciating pain for students. When students complained of the growing insecurity for those living off-campus, he did nothing other than watch students suffer and die. Therefore, his recent atrocity of mobilizing policemen to attack students doesn’t come as a complete shock to those who are familiar with his history of notoriety.
The Education Rights Campaign (ERC) reiterates the need for the demands of students, placed on the government and school management, to be met. There is a need to revamp the expressway and provide measures, including alternative lanes for heavy duty vehicles and trucks, to ensure commuters are not exposed to the daily danger that the highway now portends. In addition to the need to repair the road, a pedestrian flyover and overhead bridge should be constructed to ensure students and workers don’t have to deal with the daily dangers lurking on the road. Road safety officers should also be adequately positioned around the part linking the road to the campus while also constructing modernized speed-breakers. In the Education Rights Campaign (ERC), we believe that the school authority must drastically reduce the cost of school hostel accommodation and build more conducive hostels for students. 130,000 naira for a bed space is exploitation!
The ERC firmly stands with students of Federal University Lokoja in their struggle for a safe academic environment and against the tyranny of Prof. Olayemi Akinwumi.
WE PLACE THE BLAME FOR THIS TRAGIC LOSS ON THE INEPTITUDE OF THE UNIVERSITY MANAGEMENT AND GOVERNMENT
STUDENTS MUST FIGHT TO COMPEL THE SCHOOL MANAGEMENT AND GOVERNMENT TO PROVIDE MEASURES TO PREVENT RECURRENCE
The Education Rights Campaign (ERC) condoles with students of Federal University of Lokoja over the tragic loss of 7 students, who died under awful circumstances on Monday 17 February 2025. The deceased met a sad end when a truck crumpled the campus shuttle they boarded. Notably, the loss of innocent lives in this gruesome manner has become a frequent occurrence. This is majorly because the University management and government have not shown any concern beyond talks, neither have they shown any readiness to address the situation and prevent future occurrences. The university Vice Chancellor Prof. Okayemi Akinwumi, the Kogi state government, and the federal government must be held responsible for this painful loss.
The Federal University Lokoja is situated along the Lokoja-Abuja highway, something which exposes students and staff to the daily danger of commuting through this road which is in a terrible condition. This is what has been claiming innocent lives. Despite the severity of this situation, the University authorities and the government have not taken steps to ensure that preventive measures are provided. In addition to the need to repair the road, a pedestrian flyover and overhead bridge ought to have been constructed to ensure students and workers don’t have to deal with the daily dangers lurking on the road. Road safety officers should also be adequately positioned around the part linking the road to the campus while also constructing modernized speed-breakers.
It is necessary to state that many students reside off-campus because the University authorities have woefully failed to provide cheap, adequate and conducive accommodation for students on campus. For instance, hostel accommodation on campus costs about N130, 000 per student for a room to be occupied by 4 students, this is aside the terrible state of these hostels. This is why many students opt for accommodation outside the school. The University management, if genuinely concerned about students’ safety, must drastically reduce the cost of accommodation and also begin the process of building new hostels, commensurate with the population of students. These are the ways to ensure students are kept safe on campus and not exposed to unnecessary dangers outside.
We of the Education Rights Campaign (ERC) welcome the call of the students’ union for lecture-free days to mourn the deceased students. However, we strongly believe that the demands of the union should go beyond this. The students’ union is a democratic platform of students meant to protect their interest, a situation that concerns the lives of students must be treated with pertinent urgency. As a first step, we propose that the students’ union leadership call a general congress of students to allow students to discuss this sad incident and how to prevent future occurrences. The union must fight to ensure the university management and Government urgently provide adequate measures to prevent future occurrences.
Ogunjimi Isaac,
Deputy National Coordinator
Adaramoye Michael Lenin,
National Mobilization Officer
Are you dissatisfied with the situation of your school and interested in struggling to make it better and also make society better? Then join the ERC today as we campaign for a safe campus and a better education sector and society!
Neither APC nor PDP represents genuine interests of working people, youth and the poor people
The Democratic Socialist Movement (DSM), Osun State, hereby strongly condemns the violence that has trailed recent Appeal Court judgement over the 2022 Local Government elections. The violence, which has claimed lives and subjected the people of the state to unwarranted apprehension, was sequel to the judgement of the Appeal Court, Akure, on the local government election held in October, 2022 in the twilight of the Gboyega Oyetola/APC administration.
The judgement, which was against the People’s Democratic Party (PDP), is being relied on by the Gboyega Oyetola-led All Progressives’ Congress (APC) to demand the reinstatement of the erstwhile local government executives, purportedly elected in the 2022 elections but sacked by the Federal High Court. The Osun State government, relying on a different court judgement by the Appeal Court in a case between the Action People’s Party (APP) and APC, had opposed the return of the former council executives.
To us in the DSM, we view the positions of both APC and the Osun State government as self-serving and not in the genuine interest of the people of the state. In the first instance, both parties have no genuine intention of ensuring a democratic local government system.
For instance, Oyetola, who is now an emergency advocate of ‘rule of law’ did not allow local governments to have democratic elections in almost four years of his administration. He only conducted a sham election, in which only his party, APC ‘contested’, and ballot papers only had ‘YES OR NO’ as voting options. Worse still, the government practically paralysed the local government administration, with the state government cornering a significant part of local government funds. The so-called election was held after Oyetola was defeated in the governorship election, and few weeks before his exit as governor! Therefore, the display of sudden energy for ‘rule of law’ by Oyetola and APC is only a cover for their shameful actions.
Also, the Ademola Adeleke/PDP administration, despite giving some limited funds to local councils as a result of the Supreme Court ruling on local government autonomy, still has a firm, yet destructive, grip over the local government administration. The local governments are still unable to undertake any serious grassroots development or activities. The government did not allow democratic elections into the local councils in the last 2 years, rather using unelected caretaker committees and bureaucrats to run the councils. The decision to hold local council elections was not a free will of the state government but was a product of the Supreme Court ruling. Worse still, the planned local council elections are not democratic. For instance, the chairperson of the state electoral commission (OSSIEC) is a long-term lawyer to the PDP and Adeleke.
Aside all of these is the corruption that has defined both the Oyetola/APC and Adeleke/PDP administrations. For instance, the only major project of the Oyetola administration was the Ola-Iya flyover in Osogbo, which was actually a conduit pipe for looting. The flyover, which was less than 500 meters, reportedly cost the state over N2.7 billion. Worse still, the funds for the project was sourced through loan, with high interest rate. On the other hand, the road construction projects of the Adeleke/PDP government have been dogged by waste and corruption, as the cost of these projects are well overboard. For instance, the Lagere, Ile-Ife flyover, which spans less than 2km will reportedly cost the state N14.9 billion. Yet, this is a state where the government just employed 10,000 people on a poverty salary of N30,000 a month, under a youth volunteer scheme, Imole Corps. Worth noting also is the fact that the government now earns more than 300 percent in revenue than previous administration, yet major sectors in the state, including public education, water supply and sanitation, remain in a terrible state.
Therefore, the two main ruling parties are not fundamentally different. Unfortunately, the Socialist Party of Nigeria (SPN) which could have provided a genuine alternative to the two main capitalist ruling parties has been undemocratically deregistered by Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), which is acting the script of the capitalist ruling elites.
However, we need to state that the call by the APC on the police to reinstate former council executives to their positions was a major instigation to violence. The party, in a hypocritical manner, had asked the former council executives to return even when the Appeal Court judgement did not give any consequential order to that effect, while there is a subsisting judgement of Appeal Court that upheld a Federal High Court judgement, which nullified the council elections of October 2022. This is more so that the same party conducted the shameful sham ‘YES OR NO’ elections in 2022 that led to the current crisis.
Yet, this is not an endorsement of the planned local council elections slated for 22 February, 2025 by OSSIEC. The election, based on the conduct of the OSSIEC, is only a ritual to return PDP to the leadership of local governments. This is only aimed at ensuring that the Adeleke government continue to have a firm grip over the resources of the local governments.
Furthermore, we welcome the strike called by the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), which directed all local government workers to stay at home until the crisis is resolved, as a way of safeguarding the lives of workers. Yet, we enjoin the labour leaders to commit the same energy to the welfare interests of workers and retirees in the state.
Finally, we call on workers, youth, and the oppressed people in general to join the DSM in building a genuine political alternative to the capitalist ruling parties of APC and PDP.
CDWR DEMANDS REINSTATEMENT OF ALL SACKED WORKERS AND MEET THE DEMANDS OF WORKERS AND UNION
The Campaign for Democratic and Workers’ Rights (CDWR) condemns the management of Kaduna Electric for sacking 900 workers in response to legitimate demands of workers for better working conditions. We hereby demand the immediate and unconditional reversal of this unjust sack and the reinstatement of the 900 workers to their duty post without loss of pay. This unjust sack is in violation of redundancy rules as stipulated in Section 20 of Labour Act.
Recall that Kaduna Electric recently sacked 900 workers in one fell swoop in what the management called “right-sizing”. In reality however, the sacking was the management response to workers agitation for better working conditions and a rejection of management’s anti-labour practices. For instance, the National Union of Electricity Employees (NUEE) has accused the management of Kaduna Electric of recklessly and illegally deducting workers’ pension contribution but pocketed the money instead of remitting to the Pension Custodian and Pension Administrator for five years. Also, there are no medical services for workers amongst other anti-workers practices. It was the extreme and autocratic response of the management that triggered the industrial unrest and strike that started on Monday February 3, 2025.
Even when there is genuine reason to declare redundancy, management is obligated to engage the union before embarking on any sack in compliance with Section 20 of the Labour Act. In this respect, the management of Kaduna Electric refused to engage NUEE, which makes its ‘right-sizing’ highly suspicious and unlawful. As a matter of fact, the workers of Kaduna Electric are over-worked and under-paid and so, there is no justifiable reason for any redundancy or mass sack.
We believe that the mass sack of the workers is aimed at beheading the union while undermining workers right to unionisation, and collective bargaining. The sack is also aimed at subjecting the workers to an atmosphere of terror and intimidation so that management can successfully impose on workers terrible working conditions aimed at guaranteeing huge profits for the owners of Kaduna Electric.
The CDWR demands that the management of Kaduna Electric should immediately reinstate all 900 sacked workers, remit all deducted workers’ pension to the Pension Custodians and workers retirement savings account, end all anti-labour practices and enter into negotiation with NUEE/workers as a means of resolving all pending labour disputes.
The CDWR calls on the leadership of NUEE, the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), and the Trade Union Congress (TUC) to mobilise for a sustained mass actions including a strike actions to force the management of Kaduna Electric to reinstate all illegally sacked workers and meet all other demand of workers.
NLC PLANNED PROTEST AGAINST TELECOM TARIFF HIKE: DSM URGES LABOUR TO ADOPT A COHERENT PROGRAMME TO SERIOUSLY DEFEND THE INTEREST OF THE WORKING CLASS AND THE POOR MASSES
Statement of the Democratic Socialist Movement (DSM)
Ordinarily, the announcement of the decision of the leadership of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) to hold a nationwide mass protest on Tuesday 4 February 2024 against another increase in telecom tariffs is a development that should be applauded by all and sundry considering the decisively anti-poor, exploitative and provocative character of the policy. As is widely known, telecom firms operating in Nigeria have a legendary record of brutal exploitation despite poor service delivery.
Indeed, since the early 2000s when the sector was privatized by the Olusegun Obasanjo administration, the big telecom firms have been milking Nigerians of their hard-earned income while enjoying, for a period, all sort of support from government including tax holiday and numerous waivers. Today, Nigeria has some of the highest call and data tariffs in Africa despite poor call and internet services. Therefore, for the fat cats of the private telecom firms, after years of making record profits in Nigeria, to then lay claim to the unfolding economic crisis in the country as a justification for a 50 percent tariff increase is no doubt a provocation that requires a decisive response from the labour movement.
However, when placed on a balance of scales, the planned protest by the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) on telecom tariff hike while conveniently ignoring all the other neo-liberal attacks of the Tinubu regime on the livelihood of the Nigerian people over the last one and a half years, can only be seen, and justifiably so, as nothing but a betrayal of the economic interest of the working class and poor masses of this country who have been enduring one of the worst cost of living crisis in Nigeria’s history. So, it is no surprise that the NLC’s call for a protest has failed to generate any enthusiastic response from even within the ranks of the labour movement itself. This is because of lack of trust in the leadership of the NLC and a general feeling that, even when they call for action, they are not interested in any serious fightback. Due to labour leaders’ history of stopping protests and then making unpalatable deals, many also rightly expect that whatever action that is called may be suspended before it even starts so no one wants to invest energy and resources on something that is likely to be suspended at the last minute. And this is likely to be the case again considering that a meeting between the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) and the NLC leadership has been scheduled to take place on the eve of the protest!
Notwithstanding these justifiable misgivings however, we in the Democratic Socialist Movement (DSM) urge Nigerian workers and the masses to troop out in large numbers to join the planned protest on Tuesday 4 February 2025 not because of any trust in the labour leadership but especially because of a lack of it. By failing to join the protest, the rank and file workers would be giving a labour leadership that is ordinarily not interested in any serious struggle an additional excuse to completely fail to call for any action again in future as they would simply argue that workers and the poor masses will not respond. Therefore, it is important for activists at the rank and file level of the trade unions to do everything possible to move out rank and file workers to join the protest. We also call on the masses and youth whose socio-economic conditions would be further affected by a telecom tariff hike to join the protest at every state capital.
LABOUR ON CRUTCHES
As they say in Nigeria, whether a day would be good or bad is often known from the eve. Even before it starts, the planned protest has already run into numerous political and organizational obstacles. First and foremost, mobilization has been generally tepid with many leaderships of NLC State councils practically failing to mobilise. For example, the Chairperson of NLC Lagos State Council only sent out by 6:30pm yesterday, Sunday an invitation to a SEC and SAC meeting holding today Monday 3 February – the very eve of the protest of 4 February 2025. Indeed, in some states like Oyo, no meeting has been called to plan and mobilise for the protest as the state leaderships consider it wise to wait for the outcome of the meeting between the NLC and NCC first. To make matters worse, this so-called meeting between the NCC and NLC is not going to start until 5pm which means in the likelihood that it lasts far into the night, there will be completely no time for the state councils to mobilise should the outcome of meeting be so unsatisfactory that the NLC national leadership decides on going ahead with the planned protest the next day. There can be no better sign of unseriousness than this. Sadly, what this means very clearly is that what is being planned for Tuesday is just a token protest if it is eventually held.
Secondly, one of the in-house unions, Private Telecommunications and Communications Senior Staff Association of Nigeria (PTECSSAN), has openly condemned the NLC’s planned protest and pledged its support for the 50 % telecom tariff hike. This unprincipled stance of PTECSSAN is an indication that the ideological and political rot in the labour movement has become a cancer that has affected every root and branches of the movement. Many trade unions in the private sector are under the control of union leaders who have ideologically capitulated to neoliberalism and the market economy and are in turn in the pocket of the bosses. PTECSSAN is an affiliate of the Trade Union Congress (TUC) – the second largest trade union centre in the country. It is not impossible that the union’s unprincipled stance is shared by the leadership of the TUC who have a more decidedly pro-market philosophy in comparison to the equally pro-capitalist NLC leadership. This probably explains why the NLC has been unable to win the support of the Trade Union Congress (TUC) for a joint prosecution of the struggle against the tariff hike.
Unfortunately, this division could have a big impact on the struggle itself. On the one hand, the NLC is weak organizationally with many state chapters under the control of union leaders who are card-carrying members of the ruling capitalist political parties in their states. This means that they often act as internal saboteurs to the puny attempts by the NLC leadership to muster a resistance to government anti-poor policies. On the other hand, it appears that the Joe Ajaero leadership of the NLC has lost both the respect and fear of the Tinubu regime as well as support of the Nigerian working masses – a logical consequence of the leadership’s class collaborationism and political impotence as the regime began its neo-liberal onslaught one and a half years ago. What all these sadly means therefore is that instead of tomorrow’s action serving as an opportunity to show the power of the working class, there is a risk that it might end up as a faint whimper that is not only too weak to stop the telecom tariff increase but that also serves to embolden the regime to feel even more invincible in its unrelenting neoliberal onslaught on living conditions and repression of civil liberties.
THE WAYFORWARD
Considering all the aforementioned, it is not too difficult to see that the stage has been set for another compromise. Most likely the NLC leadership will settle for whatever is won at the negotiation today and suspend action. But even if it goes ahead with its planned action on Tuesday 4 February 2025, there is all likelihood that the protest would be just a token demonstration.
Whatever happens, Socialists and genuine trade union activists have to be worried at the growing emasculation of the labour movement and what it means for the class struggle in Nigeria. In the light of the explosion of mass struggle last year under the slogan #Endbadgovernance as well as some workers’ strikes breaking out at different workplaces across the country on issues of pay and conditions, it is crystal clear that what is holding back the class struggle in Nigeria is not the unpreparedness of the working masses to fight but the class collaborationism of the leadership of the labor movement.
This is why it is necessary for a campaign for the rebuilding of a fighting labour movement to be launched right now. This is not a matter that can be postponed anymore as the fate of the entire country lies on it. This campaign which should involve rank and file workers, Socialists and activists will have as part of its objective the return of internal democracy to the trade unions, election of union leaders on workers’ pay, removal of unearned privileges from union positions, accountability in the usage of union resources, recall of all pro-bosses, pro-capitalist and corrupt trade union leaders and their replacement with those ready to fight for the working class.
Only such a trade union leadership can fight seriously to win concessions on pay and conditions for workers while also energetically taking up the struggle against all anti-poor policies like fuel price hike, electricity and telecom tariff hike etc. However, while winning concessions can bring relief to the working class and long-suffering masses, only the overthrow of capitalism and its replacement by a Socialist alternative can permanently rid society of the situation of mass poverty and misery in the midst of abundance. To do this will also require that a fighting labour movement works with Socialists and activists to build a mass workers’ political party to fight to wrest political power from the capitalist elite in order to end the inequitable capitalist system and bring into being a democratic Socialist Nigeria under which the means of production would be publicly owned and democratically managed to ensure that Nigeria’ wealth which has been stolen by the one percent is made available to begin to fix society and make lives better for all and sundry.
Protest actions were held again in Nigeria and the UK on Wednesday January 29 in continuation of local and international campaigns over the unjust detention and trial of #EndBadGovernance protesters as well as increasing attacks on democratic rights in Nigeria. The campaign had earlier forced the government, through the courts, to release many detainees, including minors, though in most cases on bail with stringent conditions while some others had the charges against them dropped.
It should be recalled that mass protests were held across Nigeria last year over mass hunger and economic hardship compounded by the anti-poor neo-liberal capitalist policies of the Bola Tinubu government. Fearful that these #EndBadGovernance protests could get a big response the government decided to firmly clamp down on the protests. Tinubu is very aware that less than 9 million voted for him in 2019 in a country of over 230 million.
Protesting outside the Abuja courthouse on January 29
However, it is not yet a total freedom for all those who have been released. For instance, Adaramoye Michael Lenin and 10 others, who regained freedom on bail after languishing for about two months in the police and prison custodies, are facing trumped-up charges including treason, which carries a death penalty, at the Federal High Court in Abuja. Hence, the chief demand of the campaign at present is for the government to end the sham trial by withdrawing the trumped-up charges. On Tuesday, January 28, the Kano State government dropped similar charges against protesters being tried at the State High Court. The campaigners demand that the Federal Government, which prosecutes Michael Lenin and 10 others, and other state governments also follow suit .
Kano state is governed by an opposition party, the NNPP. It is possible that it withdrew the charges in order to appear to the working masses as being different from the APC/Tinubu led Federal Government. For the Tinubu government, the trial is being used as a deterrent to any form of serious opposition against its anti-poor neo-liberal policies. Therefore, the campaign has to be sustained and strident to force the government to withdraw the charges.
Therefore, it was good and correct that the campaigners went ahead with the solidarity protest despite having been aware a day earlier that the trial would not be held again on January 29 as scheduled. That was the second time the commencement of the trial had been postponed – the first being November 8. The new date is March 26.
January 29 ‘Treason’ trial protest outside the Nigerian High Commission in London
In Abuja, civil society activists held a protest at the Federal High Court Abuja where Michael and others stand trial. Members of Socialist Party (CWI England and Wales) and Nigeria Solidarity UK were at the Nigerian High Commission in London for a solidarity protest. Also, many branches of the Socialist Party in England and Wales also held different solidarity actions as did comrades of the Socialist Party Scotland (CWI Scotland). Earlier, on Monday January 27, Youth Rights Campaign – a campaign group of the Democratic Socialist Movement (DSM) – held a press conference and protest in Lagos.
In all the protest actions, in addition to calling for dropping of charges against activists on trial and release of all those still in detention, the demands also include an end to increasing attack on democratic rights and the reversal of the anti-poor policies which have caused a serious fall in the living standards for the vast majority.
ADARAMOYE MICHEAL LENIN AND OTHER #ENDBADGOVERNANCE ACTIVISTS DO NOT DESERVE A DEATH SENTENCE FOR PROTESTING AGAINST HUNGER AND HARDSHIP
Being the text of a press conference addressed by the Youth Rights Campaign (YRC) on Monday 27 January 2025 at the International Press Centre (IPC), Ogba Lagos, ahead of the commencement of trial of Adaramoye Micheal Lenin and 10 others for treason slated for Wednesday January 29, 2025 at the Federal High Court, Abuja
Ladies and gentlemen of the fourth estate of the realm,
Please permit us to start on a joyful note by wishing you all a happy new year 2025. You were with us on the tumultuous journey of courageous resistance and brutal repression that typified the preceding year 2024. As press men and press women, you shared with us in the brutalities of the police and your democratic rights were equally repressed as ours by the rampaging dictatorship that the Tinubu regime has become. Many of your colleagues were assaulted, arrested, killed and disappeared in the course of carrying out your legitimate duties. So believe us when we say we are so much happy to see you alive an, healthy in the New Year 2025 even as we look forward to more partnership with you in the joint effort to continue to defend civil liberties and fight for a society that benefits the mass majority and not a few.
The reason we have invited you here today is to stop President Bola Ahmed Tinubu from sentencing peaceful protesters to death just because they dared to complain about hunger and hardship. Less than 72 hours from now, specifically on Wednesday January 29, 11 #EndBadGovernance activists, including a woman Angel Love Innocent, are due to appear before Justice Emeka Nwite of the Federal High Court in Abuja where their trial for treason, mutiny and terrorism will commence in full swing. According to Nigeria’s laws, treason is punishable by death. This means if found guilty, these noble men and woman whose only crime is their courageous participation in a peaceful protest in August last year against hunger and poverty caused by President Tinubu’s neo-liberal policies, face the possibility of being sentenced to be shot at a firing squad or hanged by their neck until they die.
Now some are likely to think that maybe, we are being caught up in a flight of fancy or our imagination is running wild. In reality however, this would not be the first time that the Nigerian capitalist state would sentence activists and peaceful protesters to death and carry out the sentence. Three decades ago, Ken Saro-Wiwa (a writer and environmental activist) and eight other leaders of the Ogoni people in Rivers State were also sentenced to death by a military tribunal under the ignoble Abacha military junta for peacefully campaigning against the destructive activities of Shell in the Niger Delta. Interestingly, Ken Saro Wiwa stood for a non-violent form of struggle and resistance. Yet this did not stop the Abacha regime from carrying out this brutal sentence. On the night of November 10, 1995, the Nigerian state shocked the entire world when it hanged each of the activists including late Ken Saro-Wiwa.
WHO ARE THE ABUJA 11?
The 11 activists who are facing the prospect of a death sentence are Adaramoye Micheal Lenin,Mosiu Sodiq, Daniel Akande, Angel Love Innocent, Adeyemi Abiodun Abayomi, Buhari Lawal, Bashir Bello, Suleiman Yakubu, Opaoluwa Eleojo Simon, Nuradeen Khamis and Abdulsalam Zubairu. They were all arrested between August 5 and 1st September 2024 in connection with the #Endbadgovernance protest which broke out across the country in reaction to the cost of living crisis provoked by President Tinubu’s anti-poor policies. After their arrest, they were initially detained at the notorious Inspector General of Police’s Intelligence Response Team in Abuja where they were subjected to cruel treatment, psychological torture, tedious interrogation without the presence of an attorney and sleep deprivation.
On Monday 2nd September 2024, Micheal Lenin and others were charged for treason, mutiny and terrorism and then remanded at Kuje and Suleja prisons. They were only able to secure bail on Wednesday 11 September 2024 and spent several additional agonizing weeks in detention while trying to perfect the bail due to the onerous conditionalities. In total, they each spent over two months in detention before regaining the temporary freedom they have now.
Since their release, one of the defendants and the National Coordinator of the Youth Rights Campaign (YRC), Micheal Lenin, has described how he was arrested and blindfolded on the night of August 5 2024 and driven round the Federal Capital Territory by security operatives on the orders of the National Security Adviser (NSA), Nuhu Ribadu. In his chilling report of the conditions of their detention at the IRT facility, Lenin described how they often heard gun shots during the night and how the detention facility is notorious as a torture chamber and slaughter slab. Lenin described how he was often brought out in the middle of the night for questioning while his cellmates feared for his life because according to them, bringing people out in the night for questioning was often a ploy used by the police to carry out unlawful execution of inmates.
It goes without saying that this kind of ill-treatment of political detainees amount to a violation of several international statute and laws including Article 5 of the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights and the United Nations’ Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment. The ill-treatment also has severe consequences for the mental health of the victims. As we speak, several of the activists including Micheal Lenin, have been undergoing psycho-social therapy since they got out of prison due to anxieties and trauma associated with the ill-treatment and psychological torture they suffered while in custody.
Speakers at the YRC’s January press conference
OUR FEARS
Wednesday January 29 would be the first time they would be showing up in court after they were released on bail. To be clear, Michel Lenin and others have no fear of appearing before a court of competent jurisdiction to prove their innocence of the false, absurd and trumped up charges made up by the Nigerian Police and the National Intelligence Agency against them in a bid to paint the protest as the handiwork of Russia whereas it was simply the uprising of a people fed up by hunger and poverty.
However, we have every reason to fear that they would not receive fair trial unless the judiciary manages to surmount political interference to ensure fairness, probity and justice. Don’t forget that it took a global public outcry for the 114 malnourished and sick minors arraigned by the police on the same charges on Friday 1st November last year to be freed. Despite the obvious desecration of the court that day, the presiding Judge continued with the proceeding as if all was well and even had the presence of mind to commit the minors to prison detention. Even though the President caved in to public outcry and directed the charges against the minors to be dismissed, up till now, the Police authorities have not been sanctioned for this ignoble conduct and they have continued to defend their actions up till now.
For example, when Amnesty International issued a report late last year detailing the atrocities of the police authorities during the protest including the extra-judicial killing of at least 24 people, many of who were not protesters, we are all witnesses to how the police have tried to harass and bully the rights group in order to silence the truth. This report by Amnesty International has direct relevance to the case against the Abuja 11 because it provides incontrovertible evidence including victims testimonies that shows that while the police tried to paint the Abuja 11 as violent protest organisers out to cause mayhem in the country, those who are actually guilty of egregious violence, extrajudicial murder of Nigerian citizens and conduct likely to breach public peace are the Inspector General of Police and his men in the Nigeria Police Force. Right now the police have issued an ultimatum to Amnesty international to issue a public retraction and apology over the publication. Meanwhile, the findings of Amnesty International is supported by National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) – a body that is a product of an Act of the National Assembly. What is alarming is that while all this is going on, President Tinubu has kept a studious silence suggesting that he is not miffed by the conduct of the Police authorities in trying to suppress the truth of the repression of the #Endbadgovernance protest.
So, these are the bases for our fear that the 11 activists may not receive a fair trial. Rather we fear that the trial, just like the military tribunal that sentenced Saro Wiwa and Co 30 years ago, already has a conclusion it is working towards. However, should the judiciary regain the courage to be fair and just, then it should not be difficult for honorable Justice Emeka Nwite to see that the case against the 11 #Endbadgovernance activists is an absurd, false and trumped-up contrivance by a despotic regime all out to punish activists for daring to speak up against the prevailing crisis of hunger and hardship caused by its anti-poor policies.
THE CASE AGAINST THE ABUJA 11
When critically evaluated, the charges against the Abuja 11 are ridiculous as the proof of evidence is inadequate to sustain the charges against them. For instance, Adaramoye Micheal was arrested only because he happens to go by the nickname “Lenin” which is Russian. Lenin is the name of Vladimir Ilich, the leader of the Socialist revolution in Russia in October 1917. Being a Socialist and a member of the Democratic Socialist Movement (DSM), Adaramoye Michael Lenin adopted this name as his nickname in line with the tradition in the students and activists’ movement in Nigeria. Michael has no relationship whatsoever with the Russian dictator, Putin, whose vicious capitalist regime is an antithesis of the aims of the Russian Socialist revolution of 1917.
According to the charge sheets against the 11 defendants, the proof of evidence to sustain the 6 count charge against them are the following: (1) Statement of the defendants, (2) Telephone of the suspects (3) Forensic analysis of the telephones of the suspects and call data (4) Videos CD/DVD of the riot/inciting disturbance, (5) Books/Placards, pamphlets recovered (6) Photographs of properties looted and some destroyed, (7) CD/DVD/flash drive of government and other properties looted/destroyed, (8) Telephone call logs and handsets, (9) CAC documents and other documents, (10) Any other relevant exhibits.
For a group of defendants who are being tried for grievous offenses ranging from treason to mutiny, and intent to destabilize and levy war against Nigeria, you would have expected that the government would have been able to provide more convincing and incriminating evidence to prove its case like weapons and other indicators. But the truth of the matter is that the charges against the 11 protesters, just as the charges against the 114 including the children who were discharged in November last year, are trumped up and false charges. There is no iota of truth to these charges which the Amnesty International has rightly described as a sham trial.
NO JUSTICE! NO DIALOGUE
We find it incredible that at the same time as the Nigerian state is on the verge of sentencing these innocent youth and activists to death, it is also taking about organizing a so-called youth confab. We want to urge Nigerian youth not to allow themselves to be deceived and bamboozled by the Tinubu regime. How can a regime that is about to sentence our leaders to death for protesting peacefully while continuing to attack our rights to freedom of expression and assembly provide a credible atmosphere for a genuine discussion about our needs and demands?
All the Tinubu regime wants to achieve by the so-called youth confab is to try to burnish its image as a listening government while carrying out brutal assaults on democratic rights at the same time. This is aside using the confab to divide us by buying off a few self-serving activists with flight tickets, buffet meals and 5-start hotel accommodations in Abuja. As youth groups and civil society organizations, we need to unite and speak with one voice. We should not allow the State to divide us. We should come together to ask that the Tinubu government show good faith by first halting the sham trial against the Abuja 11 as well as other activists, journalists and bloggers who are being persecuted before talking about modalities for a genuine confab. This is the only way to ensure that we do not get ourselves and our energies diverted into a fruitless confab that will end up as a farce without resolving any of the socio-economic crises facing the youth and the working people of Nigeria as a whole.
Democratic Socialist Movement members at the press conference
OUR PRAYERS
Our stand remains that the Abuja 11 are all innocent. All they did was to participate in peaceful protests across the country between 1 to 10 August 2024 to demand an end to hunger and hardship. If there was any grain of truth to the allegations, the regime would not have been able to withdraw the charges against the 114 minors. We urge the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), Trade Union Congress (TUC), civil society organizations, youth groups, students unions, Non-Governmental organizations, professional associations and all human right groups, progressive organizations and people of good conscience to join us to call on President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to do the following:
Halt the sham trial and withdraw charges against Adaramoye Michael Lenin, Mosiu Sodiq, Daniel Akande, Angel Love Innocent, Adeyemi Abiodun Abayomi, Buhari Lawal, Bashir Bello, Suleiman Yakubu, Opaoluwa Eleojo Simon, Nuradeen Khamis and Abdulsalam Zubairu as well as all other peaceful protesters and activists in detention and on trial nationwide.
Order the Nigerian police to release the mobile phones, laptops and other gadgets seized from the defendants. Some of the defendants like Mosiu Sodiq who is a graphic designer and printer, depend on these gadgets for their individual businesses and sources of livelihood. The police have no reason to continue to hold on to these devices after releasing the defendants on bail.
Halt the harassment of Amnesty International.
Sack of the Inspector General of Police and other officers responsible for illegal arrest, detention, ill-treatment and unlawful killing of protesters and order acts of willful violation of the rights of the Nigerian people. For a democratically-constituted and independent panel of inquiry into the August 2024 #Endbadgovernance protest.
End Attacks on Democratic Rights and Free Press. No to Descent into Civilian Dictatorship
Halt the sham trial of Abiodun Bamigboye (Abbey Trotsky), Nurse Thomas Abiodun and all victims of repression by the capitalist bosses and the Nigerian state.
Meet the demands of the August 1-10 2024 protest especially regarding the reversal of fuel price hike, electricity tariff hike, hike in food prices as well as all anti-poor policies. Without meeting these demands, President Tinubu should continue to expect to see more protests and demonstrations by the Nigerian people.
End the #EndBadGovernance ‘Treason’ Trial and Drop All Charges
End the attacks on democratic rights!
We support Amnesty International’s report titled “bloody August” indicting the Police and other security agencies of a crackdown on peaceful protesters
End the 6-year long trial and drop all charges against Abbey Trotsky who is being tried for defending workers’ rights in Ibadan, Nigeria
Prosecute police officers, army and other security officers culpable of violence against peaceful protesters in Nigeria
We call for the reversal of all the neoliberal anti-poor policies of President Tinubu’s regime since its inception and a withdrawal of the recent tax reform bill
We call on NLC & TUC leadership to begin mobilisation for a 48 hour general strike to reverse all the anti-poor policies, demand implementation of the 2024 minimum wage across all States and with an increase in line with inflation
We demand public ownership of the key sectors of the economy of the economy under the democratic control of workers, youth and the poor to ensure Nigeria’s resources are utilised for the needs of the vast majority and not the profits and looting of a few
The ‘treason’ trial of Michael Lenin and ten other #EndBadGovernance protesters is scheduled to commence on 29 January after its postponement last year. Adaramoye Michael Lenin and ten others will be arraigned in Court on trumped up charges of treason and terrorism financing which could potentially earn them a death penalty if not quashed.
Recall that in the early hours of 5 August, 2024, Adaramoye Michael Lenin and a few others in Abuja were abducted and remanded in detention. It took a serious local and international campaign by socialists, activists and trade unions before they were granted bail after almost two months in detention. The campaign to demand the dropping of charges and an end to the trial and victimisation must now be intensified. We call on you all – particularly diasporans, socialist groups and trade union activists – to join this campaign to demand an end to attack on democratic rights of working people in Nigeria.
The material conditions that gave rise to the #EndBadGovernance protests last year are still very much there and have even worsened with starvation staring in the face of an escalating cost of living crisis. The horrific deaths of about 65 people, including 35 children, in Christmas palliatives stampedes last year is a huge testament to the height of hunger and desperation to survive in Nigeria. This clearly aligns with recent reports that 33 million Nigerians, including 16 million children, would be faced with acute hunger by mid-2025.
There is no other cause for the mass hunger other than the imposed neoliberal policies of the past and previous governments on the mass of working people. The current government has doubled down the attacks by fully deregulating the downstream oil sector, devaluing the currency, amongst others, and now plans to introduce a tax reform where big businesses and the super-rich are taxed less and working class and poor people are taxed to the bone. While the regime argues for increased revenue generation through the tax reform bill, it is clearly an attempt to generate more revenue for the self-serving backward ruling elites to suit their lavish lifestyle at the detriment of an already impoverished, starving people.
These attacks are occurring against a backdrop of a meagre minimum wage of N70,000 set in 2024, that has yet to be fully implemented across all States and which now needs to be increased. With inflation running at over 30% it is not enough. The trade union leadership, particularly NLC and TUC, must be prepared to mobilise for serious struggle to force the implementation of the minimum wage while also putting forward demands for reversal of all the anti-poor policies of deregulation, privatisation, education fee hikes, currency devaluation, etc.
There is also need for the trade union leadership, socialist groups and activists to take on the Nigerian government against repression of workers, activists and socialists.
For instance, asides the attacks on the #EndBadGovernance protesters, Abbey Trotsky, who is a coordinator of the Campaign for Democratic and Workers’ Rights in Oyo State, has continued to face state prosecution for the past six years. He has suffered a series of harassments including arrest and detention over this period. He has been arrested not less than eight times and is facing a trial on trumped up criminal charges for the role he played extending solidarity to thousands of casual workers of SUMAL FOOD LIMITED who went on strike, protesting against poor pay and slave working conditions.
We demand an end to the state prosecution of Abbey Trotsky and an end to casualisation of labour as well as other indecent labour practices.
Join us in building the solidarity support against an attempt to continue to enslave the vast majority of Nigerians despite the huge natural and human resources possessed by the country which if placed under collective ownership and democratic control and management of the working people can guarantee decent living standards for all. That is why we need to fight to end the rule of the rich few elites by organising for a democratically-run mass workers’ party armed with a socialist programme that can represent the working people, youth and poor in Nigeria and put an end to misery amidst plenty.
ERC hails UCH protest by Students Union and calls for similar action in UI to demand better welfare condition before second semester exams fully begins
The Education Rights Campaign, ERC, University of Ibadan (UI) branch welcomes the decision by the Bolaji Aweda leadership of the Students’ Union to organize a protest at the University College Hospital, UCH, Ibadan on Wednesday, 23rd January, 2025 over a lingering crisis of power outage within the hospital. The protest is long overdue given the scale of devastating consequences of the persistent blackout on the condition of both students and workers. It will be recalled that UCH as a teaching hospital offers both medical services and academic activities. Unfortunately, many of these critical services have either been suspended or scaled back within the hospital, putting patients live at risk and engendering poor living and learning conditions for students, as a result of the incessant blackout. The working conditions, which have been extremely challenging, has either led to burnout or huge decline in the morale of the health professionals and academics in the institution. Water supply and sanitation system are also greatly affected, creating environment poised for infection.
The ERC condemns these appalling conditions in UCH and shall be ready to identify with every democratic means and effort to force the reversal of the situation. However, it is important to state that the lingering crisis in UCH, Ibadan, is part of a broader neglect of students’ welfare and the failure of the past and present administrations of the University of Ibadan to provide a decent condition for mass of students and workers within the university. Despite, the recent hike in school fees including the introduction of some obnoxious fees, electricity and water supplies across halls of residence in the university have remained epileptic, something which has worsened the condition of certain facilities like toilet, bathroom and lecture rooms. The ERC finds this so disturbing and worrisome given the inevitable consequence this will have on both the academic performance and health condition of the mass of students on campus especially at this critical period when the second semester exam is set to fully begin.
Conducting and writing exams under these abysmal conditions, coupled with a chaotic academic calendar, will inevitably have a devastating effect on students’ mental and physical well-being. The immense pressure can lead to increased stress, anxiety and depression, compromising students’ overall health. It is in the effort to avert this kind of possible situation we urge the Aweda-led Student Union to convene an emergency congress, involving students from both the main campus and UCH, to democratically agree on a day to have a peaceful march of mass of the student to the office of the Vice Chancellor specifically to demand an improvement in the welfare condition on campus before the second semester examination fully commences. It is our opinion that the congress can equally be used to commence discussion over the election for a new leadership of the Students’ Union.
Nnamdi Ochi
ERC UI Branch Secretary
If you agree with this statement and you will like to join and help to build ERC, you can email us at edurightsforall@yahoo.co.uk
Nigeria Solidarity 