Main – Nigeria Solidarity

Trial of Makoko protesters – We Remain Undaunted

We Risk Jail Term for Daring to Stop State-Backed Theft of Poor People’s Land but We Remain Undaunted.

On Friday, 24 April 2026, it would be the third time that I and Dele Frank (Arole Fela) would be appearing in court to stand trial on criminal charges.

By H.T Soweto

We are being tried on a five-count charge bordering on conduct likely to cause breach of public peace amongst others. If found guilty, we both are looking at a few years behind bars. But we remain undaunted.

This is because the only reason why we are being subjected to this sham trial is our role in a peaceful protest on January 28 2026 which successfully stopped the Lagos state government from forcibly evicting poor people from their ancestral lands in Makoko in order to make way for the rich and powerful elite.

A Protest that Stopped the Bulldozers

The sham trial, which started on Thursday 29 January 2026 following our arrest on January 28, is the clearest indication yet of how much the anti-eviction protest successfully pushed back the Lagos state government and the bevy of land grabbers in their agenda to wipe off the people of Makoko from the face of the earth.

On Thursday 28 January 2026, over 5000 residents of Makoko, Sogunro, Iwaya, Oko Agbon, Otumara, Oworonshoki, Ajegunle and Owode Onirin marched to the Lagos state House of Assembly. The peaceful march was organized by the Coalition Against Demolition, Landgrabbing and Forced Evictions in Lagos state which members of the Democratic Socialist Movement (DSM) and the #EndBadGovernance Movement Lagos state helped set up in January as news of a renewed push to demolish and evict residents of Makoko filtered in.

Makoko is a waterfront community in Lagos state that has been in existence for more than a hundred years. The traditional occupation of the Makoko people, numbering over 300, 000, is fishing. Indeed, Makoko is widely celebrated as the “Venice of Africa” due to its iconic wooden homes, schools, and churches perched on stilts over the Lagos Lagoon. It is Africa’s example of how indigenous communities successfully live and interact with nature.

However, instead of supporting this highly resourceful community with public infrastructures like pipe borne water and sanitation, the priority of the Lagos state government has always been to try to evict them in order to redevelop the community into a luxurious estate for the rich. The people of Makoko have historically resisted this agenda politically and legally. Indeed, there is a litany of court orders and judgements in favour of the Makoko people from the year 2012 till now – none of which the Lagos state government has respected

On December 23 last year, using public safety as an excuse, the Lagos state government sent in marsh buggies (amphibious bulldozers) into Makoko and so began a demolition that nearly wiped off the entire community. Residents described waking up on that day to a low metallic rumble as the amphibious monsters crawled over the lagoon to begin pulling down one wooden house after another. Because the demolition started around the yuletide, it was weeks before it became public knowledge by which time at least 10, 000 residents had lost their homes. In the days that followed, heart wrenching scenes of homeless residents including pregnant women and babies living inside canoes floating on the lagoon filled social media further adding to the outrage.

The state government also sent in trigger happy policemen to crush any resistance. The method the police employed was especially brutal as it involved firing tear gas indiscriminately into closely-built wooden homes without advance warning. Many only survived by plunging into the lagoon. After a few days, 12 Makoko residents lay dead due to tear gas inhalation. This includes a 70- year-old widow, Ms. Albertine Ojadikluno and two infants, Morenikeji Olasupo and Epiphany Kpenassou Adingban.

Picture at demonstration of baby killed during demolition of Makoko

The protest of January 28 carried all the rage of the losses and pain of Makoko people at the hands of the police. Yet protesters were peaceful and orderly despite frequent provocation by the police who had refused to accept a notification letter for the protest the day before and only grudgingly allowed the march to kick off because of the threat of lawsuit by a prominent lawyer supporting the movement. However, as the march got to the Lagos State House of Assembly, heavily armed policemen led by the former commissioner, Jimoh Olohundare Moshood, barricaded the entrance and asked protesters to turn back. This led to altercations followed by firing of teargas. By the time the smoke cleared, several protesters were injured at least two whom had to be hospitalized.

Myself and Dele Frank were subsequently arrested. Upon my arrest and while in police custody, I was subjected to a cruel beating, brutalization and torture which has now left me with a debilitating spinal injury that I continue to nurse almost three months after the incident.

But so successful was the protest and so severe was the backlash that followed its violent dispersal that the next few days saw the Lagos state government scrambling to regain the initiative and placate the people. Hence on 3^rd February 2026, the Lagos State House of Assembly announced the suspension of demolition in Makoko. The assembly, which had ignored previous entreaties by the community to intervene in the situation, also agreed to meet with their representatives to discuss a solution.

Stalemate

Since then, a condition of stalemate has been established in the situation. For instance, while it continues to insist that the Makoko people could not be allowed to remain where they have called home for a century, the state lacks the confidence to move in bulldozers and the police as it did in December last year due to fear of another round of protest.

Indeed, on 11 March 2026, the Lagos State House of Assembly, after its so-called consultation with the community, recommended the relocation of Makoko 60 kilometers away to Agbowa in the inland area of Epe Local Government Area. This was swiftly rejected by the people who said at no point did they ask to be relocated during their engagement with the House of Assembly. But to enforce this recommendation has become a tough choice for the Lagos State Government because of the memory of January 28.

Unable to employ outright force, the Lagos state government has instead been relying on its agents, comprising one Tomori, a notorious landgrabber, and the Oloto family, to sow division and intimidate some traditional chiefs in the community to support the government plan of relocation. But the community has remained firm even as they continued to mobilize against this subterfuge through public meetings, press conferences and rallies.

Saving Makoko

The struggle against the anti-poor agenda to demolish Makoko has been on for decades and has passed through several phases. The struggle itself borders on a corrupt and neo-colonial capitalist elite which respects neither heritage nor people’s welfare in its rapacious agenda to steal and rob. It shows how the capitalist elite do not care about any ethics or values. Their singular interest is the profit they hope to make from capturing prime estate on the waterfront and building shiny condominiums, malls, luxurious resort etc.

Otherwise, Makoko, an iconic water city, is one of Africa’s still-surviving cultural and architectural heritage that ought to be preserved. Being predominantly fisherfolks, Makoko people’s way of life is tied to the Lagoon so evicting them is equal to obliterating their history and existence as a people. In the early 19th century when the first generation of the residents got to the shore of the lagoon, the area that is now called Makoko was a stretch of marshland that no one could live in. It took decades of human activities including sand filling by the poor inhabitants for the land to rise around the shore to form what is now called Makoko and which the Lagos state government and the rich property developers now see as a prime estate worth grabbing. As a result, and quite rightly, Makoko people consider the plan to evict and replace them with the rich and powerful elite as a cruel injustice.

But after over a century of existence and in the absence of government support, it is worth noting that Makoko has also become a big urban slum with at least 300, 000 residents crammed into small space around and on the lagoon. Much of the housing units are wooden structures supported by stilts with transportation being mainly by wooden boats scurrying across the foul-smelling black-odorous waters. This has inevitably raised concerns around sanitation, waste disposal, public health and safety. Obviously, these are problems that cannot be ignored but they cannot be solved by forceful eviction. The 300, 000 Makoko residents are poor and therefore unable to afford to rent or own a house elsewhere in the city. In the context of a severe housing crisis in Lagos state wherein there is a shortage of at least 34 million housing units, evicting 300, 000 people in Makoko could lead to a major social and humanitarian crisis while compromising security and public safety.

The only sensible and humane way out is for a plan of development that can allow the Makoko to be developed and regenerated but with the original inhabitants not losing their homes, livelihood and way of life. Such a plan if combined with a public-funded programme to build affordable homes to plug the housing deficit across Lagos state can gradually reduce the numbers of people who are forced to live in slums like Makoko, Ajegunle and other communities because they have no choice. This is not something that is beyond the means of Lagos State – a city whose economy would be considered the fifth largest on the continent if it were a country on its own. It is only capitalism and greed and the profit interest of corrupt politicians and real estate developers that is making it impossible.

The UN is bankrolling Human Displacement in Nigeria

Indeed, it was the Makoko people themselves who proposed such a plan of development in 2020 after several years of resisting the agenda of the government to forcibly evict them. In 2020, they proposed a plan called the “Water City Project” that would allow the Lagos state government to modernize the area but without disrupting the livelihood and way of life of the inhabitants who would have guaranteed tenureship and therefore can continue to live in the area unless they voluntarily wish otherwise.

Soon after, the plan got the support of the United Nations which then decided to support the Lagos state government with about $8 million to implement the project. The project was meant to regenerate Makoko without forced eviction. But the demolition carried out from December 23^rd 2025 until early this year before it was stopped by the January 28 protest had nothing in bearing with the original intent of the water city project. Rather the aim of the demolition was to wipe off the entire people of Makoko from the face of the earth so their land can be available to be grabbed by corrupt politicians and officials of the Lagos state government, real estate developers and the rich elite.

Interestingly, the United Nations agencies supporting the project (UN Habitat, UNDP etc.) have not publicly spoken against the actions of the Lagos state government despite it been a violation of several court orders/judgements and causing human displacement and enormous suffering. Neither is it on record that they have withdrawn support for the crudely perverted “water city project” of the Lagos state government despite the 12 precious lives lost in the process of the illegal demolition.

Epiphany Kpenassou Adingban, one of the two infants who died during the demolition in Makoko, was five days old when she choked from tear gas fumes fired by police men sent by the Lagos state government. The tragic irony of this is that a UN whose Secretary General, Antonio Guterres, regularly shed tears over the massacre and forced evictions being carried out by Israel in Gaza and the occupied territories is bankrolling something similar in Nigeria.

Next Steps

The January 28 protest is the only reason over 300, 000 Makoko residents still have a roof over their heads. The struggle is a brilliant example of what is possible when working class and poor communities come together to fight.

Soweto speaking outside the Court on 11 March 2026

However, what has been won so far is only a minor concession compared to what needs to be done to ensure that the community is saved. But a real concession will only happen if the community continue to stick together and fight, with the support of left and civil society organizations and the labour movement. International solidarity would also be vital at this stage to rekindle the hope of the community and expose the role of the UN and other imperialist institutions in the tragic situation that they now face.

What all these again prove is the urgent need for a Socialist alternative. Naturally it should be deemed ridiculous if not insane that in the 21^st century, the only way to carry out modernization and development is through forced eviction and human displacement. But right now, we live in an irrational capitalist society and such is the value that the system places on human life. The struggle to save Makoko will only fully win when we successfully rid Nigeria of capitalism and enthrone a workers and poor peoples government armed with a Socialist programme of development based on human needs and not profit.

SOLIDARITY IN COURT: THE STRUGGLE CONTINUES

DROP TRUMPED-UP CHARGES AGAINST TAIWO HASSAN SOWETO AND DELE FRANK

Today, 11th March 2026, members and collaborators of the #EndBadGovernance Lagos Movement were present at Court 2 of the Yaba Magistrate Court to stand in firm solidarity with Hassan Taiwo Soweto and Dele Frank (Arole Fela), who are facing trial over mass protest against unjust demolitions and forced evictions on January 28, 2026.

It should be recalled that Soweto was not just arrested but was also brutally tortured by the Lagos Commissioner of Police (CP) Moshood Jimoh and his men for playing a leading role in the struggle to defend the oppressed communities.

Due to the absence of the 2nd defendant, Dele Frank, on health grounds, the presiding magistrate adjourned the case to 24th April 2026.

Solidarity protest outside Yaba Magistrate Court

Shockingly, despite the defence informing the court that the 2nd defendant was ill and unable to appear physically, the prosecuting lawyer desperately urged the presiding magistrate to issue a bench warrant for his arrest—even while he is on his sick bed. This disturbing move further underscores that this trial is not about any crime committed by the defendants, but rather a vindictive attempt to punish dissent and intimidate activists who are raising legitimate demands.

It is also a clear attempt to divert attention from the growing outcry over the connivance between the Lagos State Government and land grabbers, who are forcibly evicting poor communities from their homes in order to hand over the land to big business sharks for the construction of multi-billion-naira luxury homes for the rich. We strongly condemn this persecution.

Soweto speaking outside Yaba Magistrate Court

We therefore renew our demand for the immediate investigation, removal and prosecution of CP Moshood Jimoh for his role in the brutalization of activists and residents. We also call on Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu to immediately halt the violent eviction of working-class communities across Lagos.

The presence of activists and residents of Makoko, whose community is at the centre of January 28 protest, in court today sends a clear message: we will not abandon our own. We remain resolute in standing with Soweto, Arole Fela, and all communities facing repression and displacement. The struggle for justice, dignity and democratic rights will continue.

An injury to one is an injury to all. Solidarity!

Michael Adaramoye Lenin

National Coordinator

Francis Nwapa

National Secretary

Email: yrccampaigns@gmail.com

A Call for Solidarity

Drop Trumped-Up Charges against Soweto and Dele Frank Now!

On March 11, 2026, Hassan Taiwo Soweto, member of the Democratic Socialist Movement (DSM) and spokesperson of #EndBadGovernance Movement Lagos, and Dele Frank (Arole Fela) are expected to appear before a magistrate court in Yaba, Lagos for the commencement of a sham trial on the trumped-up charges preferred against them by the Lagos State Police Command over their participation in a peaceful protest.

The charges include conspiracy to cause a breach of peace, threatening violence, unlawful assembly, obstructing traffic, and singing abusive songs against the police and government! We call for the dropping of these charges as the trial is an attempt to use the court to legalise brazen attacks on democratic rights and criminalise peaceful protest against anti-poor actions of the government.

It should be recalled that Soweto and Dele Frank were arrested and subsequently detained during a mass protest against unjust demolition and forced eviction of several poor peoples’ communities in Lagos on January 28, 2026. The protest was brutally repressed by the police, leading to many protesters sustaining injuries.

For playing a leading role in the protest, Soweto was specifically targeted and singled out for physical assault and severe torture by the police – an action that was directly supervised by the Lagos State Commissioner of Police Jimoh Moshood. The brutal attack caused a serious damage to his lower back something for which, since his release on bail by court on January 29, he has been undergoing a regular treatment including a weekly physiotherapy session.

In the last few years, the Lagos State Government has been on a demolition spree of markets and communities of poor people without adequate compensation and alternative provision. While the official reason for the eviction is usually public safety or non-compliance to a so-called masterplan, the real objective is to grab the land from the poor and allocate it to the rich, ruling party stalwarts and top government functionaries. In other words, the poor people are evicted from their property for the purpose of gentrification in line with the touted megacity agenda of the state government. In carrying out the eviction and demolition, police and thugs are usually deployed to unleash terror on the owners and occupiers of the targeted property, causing deaths and injuries.

The above is the background to the January 28 protest which was a joint mass action by ordinary people from many communities and markets affected by the forced eviction. The communities involved include Makoko, Oworonshoki, Owode Onirin, Ajegunle, Bariga, Otumara and Otodogbami.

*Dele Frank (Arole Fela) and Soweto (second and third from the right), their lawyer, Femi Falana (SAN), in the centre along supporters after they were released on bail pending their trial.*

The arrest and the frivolous charges against Soweto are in line with the measures by the government of Bola Tinubu and the APC at all levels to stifle dissent and criminalise opposition against their anti-poor policies and actions. For instance, ahead of the nationwide #EndBadGovernance protests in August 2024, the Lagos state government secretly procured a “black-market” order from the state high court against Soweto and 3 other activists which imposed restrictions on protests in the state.

Good enough, the working people, youth and activists have refused to surrender their fundamental rights to the undemocratic machination of the state government. Indeed, eleven activists including Soweto and other members of #EndBadGovernance Lagos won a legal victory through a Federal High Court judgement of July 24, 2025 which reaffirmed the fundamental rights to hold protest actions in the state and also awarded N10m as damages against the police. The activists had been unlawfully arrested and detained for holding a peaceful protest to mark the 4^th anniversary of #EndSARS massacre on October 20, 2024 in Lagos. Meanwhile, the Lagos government has filed an appeal against the judgement.

We call on trade unions, civil society and left organisations, socialists and activists, locally and internationally, to join us to resist the attempt by the police and Lagos state government to annul right to protest in the state. It is in line with this that we call for different forms of solidarity actions on or before March 11 including demonstrations and protest letters and messages to call on the Police and Lagos State Government to withdraw the frivolous charges against Soweto and Dele Frank.

By and large, we call for support for the following demands:

Withdrawal of trumped-up charges against Hassan Taiwo Soweto and Dele Frank by the Police and Lagos State Government.
A public probe of the assault, brutalization and torture of Soweto by the Commissioner of Police Jimoh Moshood and his men.
Release of all items including public address system, laptop computers, generator, first aid box, etc which were unlawfully seized by the police during the January 28, 2026 protest against forced eviction in Lagos.
Immediate end to demolition and forced eviction in Lagos and adequate compensation to the victims.
Stop attacks on democratic rights and respect rights to peaceful protest.
Reverse all anti-poor policies.

A model protest letter is below, protest letters and messages should be sent to:

The Commissioner of Police Lagos State

Email: cru@npf.gov.ng, info@nptf.gov.ng, complaint@npf.gov.ng, Tel: +234 (0) 8032569029.

Attorney General and Commissioner for Justice Lagos State

Email: info@lagosstatemoj.org, info@lagosministryofjustice.gov.ng.

Copies of protest letters should be sent to

Youth Rights Campaign (YRC)

yrccampaigns@gmail.com

Adaramoye Michael Lenin

National Coordinator,

For Youth Rights Campaign (YRC)

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Withdraw Trumped-up Charges against Hassan Taiwo Soweto and Dele Frank and End Attacks of Democratic Rights

I/We write to demand the immediate withdrawal of trumped-up charges preferred against Hassan Taiwo Soweto, spokesperson of #EndBadGovernace Movement Lagos, and Dele Frank (Arole Fela), a musician, by the Lagos State Police Command over their participation in a peaceful protest against the unjust demolition of and forced eviction of poor people from their homes by the Lagos State Government on January 28, 2026. We understand that their trial is expected to commence on March 11, 2026 at the Magistrate Court Yaba Lagos.

I/We believe that the trial is an attempt to legalise attacks on democratic rights, stifle dissent and criminalise peaceful protest. Protests are a part of the fabric of democratic rights that people have won over many years. We understand that even as recent as July 24, 2025 a Federal High Court in Lagos in a judgement against the Nigerian Police and Lagos State Government reaffirmed the fundamental rights of people to freedom of assembly including protest and indeed awarded a sum of N10million against the Nigerian police to be paid to the applicants as damages. Instructively, Hassan Taiwo Soweto was one of the applicants. The applicants had been brutally arrested and detained for holding a peaceful protest on October 20, 2024 to mark the 4^th anniversary of the #EndSars massacre. So, I/we call on the Nigerian police and the Lagos State Government to end their habitual attacks on democratic rights and respect the rights of people to peaceful protest.

I/We also condemn the brutalization and torture of Hassan Taiwo Soweto by the men of the Lagos State Police Command, inflicting him with a serious damage on his lower back, for playing a leading role in the January 28 protest. I/We find it seriously disturbing the grave allegation that the physical assault was personally supervised by the Commissioner of Police Jimoh Moshood. We demand a public probe of this bestial action of the police by an independent panel that must include the representatives of Nigerian Bar Association, Nigerian Medical Association, trade unions, civil society and media.

I/We demand immediate release of the items unlawfully seized by the police at the January 28 anti-demolition protest. These include the equipment of the DJ hired by the protesters namely public address system, laptop computer, generator, etc. Also, callously impounded was a First Aid Box. By this unlawful action, the police have heartlessly deprived the owners of the items their livelihoods since January 28

Until the above demands are met, I/We will continue to build support for the demands in the local and international media and among the millions of working people and youth, trade unions, locally and internationally, local and international human right organisations and parliamentarians of good conscience, locally and internationally.

Signed

Protest Against Forced Eviction of Lagos Poor Repressed by Police

Release Soweto and Others Now

A protester is shot

Hassan Taiwo Soweto, a leading member of the Democratic Socialist Movement (DSM) and spokesperson of #EndBadGovernance Movement Lagos, probably with other protesters, was arrested today at the Lagos State House of Assembly. This was at a protest against the unjust demolition and forced eviction of Makoko, Oworonshoki, Owode Onirin and other poor people communities in Lagos.

The police unleashed teargas and live bullets to forcefully disperse the peaceful protesters . A protester was shot in the leg and a woman at present does not know the whereabouts of her baby as a result of the stampede.

*Soweto speaking at the January 28 protest*

The protesters were largely the victims of demolition and members of the targeted communities.

We call for the immediate and unconditional release of Soweto and others.

The government should stop the unjust demolition and adequately compensate the victims of the forced evictions.

Peluola Adewale

Organising Secretary, Democratic Socialist Movement (DSM)

Victory At Last! #EndBadGovernance Activists ‘Treason’ Trial Cancelled

Pressure forces Nigerian Government to anabdon sham trial of Adaramoye Michael Lenin and 10 other #EndBadGovernance protestors charged with treason and terrorism

Today, December 10, 2025, Justice Emeka Nwite of the Federal High Court Abuja struck out the treason and terrorism charges against Adaramoye Michael Lenin and 10 others. In his ruling, Justice Emeka lamented that the prosecuting counsel had shown a lack of diligence and seriousness in the case they initiated against the protesters. Subsequently, Michael Lenin and his co-defendants, who were detained and put on trial over the August 2024 nationwide #EndBadGovenance protest against mass hunger, economic hardship and anti-poor policies of Bola Tinubu government, were acquitted. Other activists are Daniel Akande, Mosiu Sadiq Adeyemi Abiodun Abayomi, Angel Love Innocent, Bashir Bello, Nuradeen Khamis, Buhari Lawal, Opaluwa Eleojo Simeon, Suleiman Yakubu. Abdulsalam Zubairu.

Since the arraignment of the 11 #Endbadgovernance protesters on September 2, 2024, after unlawfully spending many weeks in police cells and prison, the Nigerian government had wasted public resources to sustain charges of treason and terrorism against them without being able to prosecute their own case. Rather, the police prosecutors repeatedly employed different delayed tactics and sought adjournment after adjournment. At least all of them were eventually given bail and freed from prison.

We recall that on June 25, 2025, Justice Emeka warned the prosecuting counsel to desist from further delaying the trial and expressly stated that the case would be struck out if the police further attempted to postpone the trial, following the resilient agitations of the legal representatives of the activists. The judge was actually compelled to strike out this case due to the relentless campaign of our comrades and supporters locally and internationally. Repeatedly public protests were held around the world while trade unions and civil rights organisations demanded this trial stopped. It was the same pressure that forced the government and police to abandon the trial as the police prosector was absent in court today. Left to the government and police, they were prepared to perpetually tie the treason trial around the neck of the #EndBadGovernance activists in order to serve as deterrent to further mass protests against its anti-poor policies and attacks on democratic rights.

It is fitting and instructive that the news of the court victory came when activists were again on the streets of Lagos, Ibadan and elsewhere in Nigeria to use the occasion of the December 10 World Human Rights Day to highlight and put on the front burner the demand for an immediate end to the sham trial of 11 #Endbadgovernance activists and an end to other instances of attacks on democratic rights in Nigeria. The Youth Rights Campaign (YRC) expresses a profound appreciation to all the lawyers who rendered free legal service and comrades, supporters and activists locally and internationally for their sustained pressure and unflinching support throughout the periods of arrest, detention, and trial.

We consider this a victory, not just for the 11 #Endbadgovernance activists, but also for all Nigerians desirous of a better society. This is an example that we can fight and defeat a tyrannical government like the Tinubu government. Nigerian working people and youths must continue to fight consistently against bad governance and pro-capitalist policies of the government.

The Youth Rights Campaign (YRC) demands a public apology from the Nigerian government to all acquitted #Endbadgovernance activists, return of the properties and unfreezing of the bank accounts. We also demand adequate compensation for the 11 activists and all victims of abuse during and after the #Endbadgovernance protest. We also demand the immediate freedom of all the jailed #Endbadgovernance protesters sentenced to seven years imprisonment in Borno and withdrawal of charges against anybody still on trial over the August 2024 #Endbadgovernance protest. We maintain that protest against anti-poor policies and bad governance is a democratic right and must not be criminalized.

Francis Nwapa

National Secretary

YRC email: youth_rights@yahoo.com

Drop Sham Charges and End Treason Trial of #EndBadGovernance Activists

Treason Trial of Michael Lenin and 10 Others Comes Up Again on October 9 at FHC Abuja

Again, on Thursday October 9, Adaramoye Michael Lenin and 10 other activists are expected to appear, for the fifth time, before the Federal High Court in Abuja for a treason trial as a result of their participation in the nationwide #EndBadGovernance protests in August 2024. We of the Youth Rights Campaign (YRC) believe that what the activists are facing is a sham trial as protest against anti-poor policies is not tantamount to treason.

We therefore demand that the government withdraws the trumped-up charges preferred against these #EndBadGovernance protesters who are currently on bail with stringent conditions after having been incarcerated for at least two months both in the police custody and prisons. The other activists are Daniel Akande, Mosiu Sodeeq, Adeyemi Abiodun Abayomi, Suleiman Yakubu, Opaluwa Eleojo Simeon, Angel Love Innocent (female), Buhari Lawal, Bashir Bello Nuradeen Khamis and Abdulsalam Zubairu.

We strongly believe that the government cannot prove the charges against the activists as they are ridiculous and frivolous. For instance, the police in their charge sheet state that the activists committed treason, which carries a death penalty, because they carried a placard with a message: “End Bad Government”.

We believe that the inability to prove the charges is the reason the government has continued to employ delayed tactics in this case, something in which the trial judge, Justice Emeka Nwite, appears to be complicit. Since last November when the trial was first scheduled, it was only on the last adjourned date of June 25 that Judge himself was available in court, having been absent three times previously. Even at the said last sitting, there was no trial as a lawyer who appeared as the new police prosecutor, in order to further waste time, requested more time to study the case. We challenge Justice Nwite to fulfill the promise he made in the court on June 25 that he would strike out the case if the prosecutor further delays the trial.

It is not out of place to conclude that as part of its wider policy of criminalizing dissent, the government is determined to tie the treason trial around the neck of the #EndBadGovernance activists in order to serve as deterrent to another mass protest against its anti-poor policies.

Therefore, we call on civil society organisations, human rights groups, socialist and left groups, trade unions, activists and individuals of good conscience, in Nigeria and internationally, to support the demand for dropping of charges against the eleven #EndBadGovernance activists on trial in Abuja, and others across the country on similar sham trials, in order to totally regain their freedom. There should be also demands for an end to attacks on democratic rights and reversal of all anti-poor policies, which were the reason for the nationwide protest in the first place.

We commend individuals and groups, locally and internationally, who have been part of the struggle and solidarity for freedom for #EndBadGovernance activists since August 2024. We call for continued solidarity actions until there is total victory.

Francis Nwapa

National Secretary,

Youth Rights Campaign (YRC)

Email: youth_rights@yahoo.com

One Year of the ‘Treason Trial’

2025-09-03 - IMAGE Nigeria Treason Trial (YRC) — (IMAGE: Adaramoye Michael Lenin)

Today, September 2, 2025, marks exactly a year since the Tinubu government arraigned Adaramoye Michael Lenin and nine other #EndBadGovernance protesters over their role in the #EndBadGovernance protest, which took place between August 1 and 10, 2024. Michael Lenin – National Coordinator of YRC, Mosiu Sodiq, Angel Love Innocent, Buhari Lawal, Adeyemi Abayomi, Eleojo Opaluwa, Nurudeen Khamis, Bashir Bello, Suleiman Yakubu and Abdulsalam Zubairu were detained for weeks at a notorious detention centre of the Police in FCT Abuja, popularly known as Abattoir.

False and outrageous charges were levelled against them, including treason, terrorism, and mutiny, among others. Consequently, they were remanded in prison and were only granted bail on stringent conditions after 9 days. In fact, most of them had to spend about a month in jail because they couldn’t meet the bail conditions easily. Importantly, they were re-arraigned on September 17, 2024, with another detained protester, Daniel Akande, added to the defendants.

The Youth Rights Campaign (YRC) uses this opportunity to demand the immediate dropping of these nefarious and false charges against #EndBadGovernance protesters. After a year, the prosecutors have not provided any evidence to support their claims of treason, terrorism, etc. In fact, the case has suffered several adjournments. This delay tactic is to ensure the charges of treason and terrorism continue to be hung around the necks of these activists; this is inline with the antics of the Tinubu government to criminalize dissent. We also call on civil society organisations, youth groups, trade unions, individual activists and people of good conscience to support the demand for the immediate withdrawal of the sham charges and carry out different solidarity actions like issuing public statements, sending protest messages and organizing peaceful demo on or before October 9 which is the next date for the adjourned treason trial at the Federal High Court Abuja.

We also seize this opportunity to reiterate our call for the release of seven #EndBadGovernance protesters who were recently convicted in Borno state and sentenced to prison. We strongly believe that no Nigerian should be sent to prison or punished for exercising their fundamental rights to protest. The judiciary must not become the bride of despotic politicians or offer itself to be used to undermine basic human rights.

The Youth Rights Campaign (YRC) also calls for freedom for all who are still in detention or on trial in connection with #EndBadGovernance protest.

The Tinubu government has continued to act true to its draconian nature; the attacks on the fundamental rights of Nigerians are still ongoing. In fact, cases of police brutality have become a daily occurrence. Alongside this calamitous situation is the continuation of the neo-liberal and anti-masses polices. None of the demands made by Nigerians during the #EndBadGovernance protest has been met by the government; it ignored them all. To respond to this, we need a united mass platform of resistance, uniting all oppressed layers of society, particularly the working masses. We urge the labour leadership to wake up to its responsibility and lend its weight to the building of mass resistance against repression and anti-poor policies under the Tinubu government.

We demand the immediate and unconditional dropping of all charges on Michael Lenin, and other #EndBadGovernance protesters
We reiterate our call for the immediate release of seven unjustly convicted #EndBadGovernance protesters in Borno and all protesters still in prison
We demand justice for all Nigerians killed and injured during the #EndBadGovernance protest
Working people and youth must unite against attacks on democratic and anti-poor policies of the Tinubu failed government

Youth Rights Campaign (YRC), Nigeria

Nepal: Mass Protests Topple Sharma Oli

Can The Struggle Be Taken Further?

Yet again, Nepal is witnessing another historic movement; the days when decades happened. Thousands of protesters, mainly young people, took to the streets to protest against the ban on social media platforms by Prime Minister Sharma Oli. The ban on social media platforms like Facebook, TikTok, YouTube, etc., was imposed on September 4. For young people who have endured an existence of mass misery, joblessness, and hopelessness, the ban on social media platforms became the last straw to break the camel’s back.

By Michael Lenin

National Coordinator, Youth Rights Campaign and member, Democratic Socialist Movement

Anger began to boil against the administration of Sharma, and on Monday, September 8, this anger translated into a mass movement. In what has been tagged as a “Gen Z movement” by commentators and mainstream media, the protest involving tens of thousands broke out in several cities and towns of Nepal. Protests occurred across Nepal, from Kathmandu to Pokhara, Birgunj, Biratnagar, Bharatpur, and other cities, with significant turnouts.

REPRESSION RESISTED

The immediate response of the regime was heavy repression of the protest. Reports indicate that about 19 people were killed by security agents on the first day of the protest, while hundreds were injured, although there are indications that the death figure could be higher than 19. In the face of heavy repression, the protest took a different turn and grew stronger; they successfully resisted the repression. On September 9, not only was the ban on social media lifted, but Prime Minister Sharma Oli, who had planted the thorns that pierced him, resigned as Prime Minister. Sharma Oli, who had imposed a ban on social media against the people, was sent packing within two days of mass movement!

BEYOND THE BAN

Importantly, the ban on social media platforms was not the only fuel that drove mass anger against Sharma; in fact, it was merely a detonator of the anger. Since returning to power last year, Sharma had provoked the anger of the masses. Many of his acts of high-handedness generated mass anger, but he was never challenged on the streets. This gave him the overblown confidence that he and his cronies could continue to have their way. For instance, Sharma unleashed several attacks against NGOs and civil societies in Nepal, stiffened the civic space, used the CIIA (an anti-corruption agency) to witch-hunt his opponents, and appointed his cronies to key positions.

Being among the ruling cabals became a license to a life of opulence. Together, they all lived happily while thousands of Nepalese citizens lived in misery. By estimation, over 20% of citizens live in extreme poverty. Youth unemployment as of 2024 stood at 20.84%, while over 700,000 youths yearly seek to work outside the country in search of greener pastures. The employment program initiated by Sharma this year successfully employed just about 3,300 out of over 800,000 who applied. This reflects the agonizing situation of the masses of Nepal and the background to the mass anger. These are the crimes of Sharma Oli that the Nepalese youth are determined to punish him for. But these are not just the crimes of Sharma; they are the inevitable reality attached to capitalism.

In 2006 Nepal witnessed a revolution which swept away the old powers, including the monarchy. The last King had attempted to impose direct rule in 2005, the resistance to this led to the revolutionary developments and, in 2008, an elected Constituent Assembly formally abolished the monarchy and declared Nepal a republic. Despite their mass support and heading different governments the rival Communist Parties, which politically are different variants of Maoism, either collaborated with the capitalists or effectively prevented a break with capitalism. This was because, unlike Lenin and the Bolsheviks in the 1917 Russian revolution, they did not have a clear socialist programme to offer workers, youth and the oppressed nationalities.

The result was that the capitalists were given room to regroup and Nepal, like other third-world countries, remained trapped in primitive production conditions and is unable to progress. For instance, a large part of the GDP, about 30%, comes from foreign remittances, while over 60% of production is in the agriculture sector. In fact, there is very little potential for youth to work without being confined to farmlands with hoes in their hands.

POWER AND FIRE

The mass movement continues, and the cities of Nepal are soaked in flames from burnt houses and properties of corrupt politicians. Power has left the walls of government buildings; it now resides with the mass of angry protesters. A video of the Hilton hotel, an abode for corrupt politicians to lavish money on merriment, circulated on social media; fire and flames had consumed it, burnt down by angry protesters. Many politicians have now abandoned their homes and fled. Without a Prime Minister, without the parliament, and with the flight of political officeholders, the institutions of repression—the police, law courts, and prisons—have become paralyzed. The police, without a “state” to be loyal to, are non-existent. The question is who will fill this vacuum?

YOUTH UPRISING: WHERE IS THE PLACE OF THE WORKING CLASS?

This is an era of youth-led mass movements, where young people are left with unanswered questions about why their lives remain a sad story of poverty and misery, and a future that grows bleaker daily. There has been a wave of youth mass movements in many African countries. This “Gen Z” uprising in Nepal, a country in Asia, shows how wide and fierce the fire of resistance can spread. In Kenya, the protest of the youth successfully forced the Ruto government to reverse the finance bill, though the regime doubled down on its repression of protesters. In Nigeria, the EndBadGovernance protests challenged the Tinubu government and the ruling class. Although unable to win a major concession, the movement showed that mass resistance against a despotic government is possible.

What is significantly missing in the recent uprising of youth is the power of the working class. The 2006 revolution saw workers’ general strike action. Today, although workers are sympathetic to these mass movements and sometimes even join at the barricade, the question of workers’ power is not merely in sympathy with a mass movement or in the direct participation of one or two members or even a thousand workers. The power of the working class in a mass movement lies, as Leon Trotsky would put it: “The force of mass movements lies not in their numbers, but in the transformation of the workers’ consciousness, in their ability to act as a class.” And in all of the youth mass movements, this consciousness of the working class—the ability of the workers to act as a class—is apparently missing. However, this is not because workers are not prepared to struggle or challenge dictatorial capitalist regimes; it lies in the failure of leadership. Indeed, “The historic crisis of mankind is reduced to the crisis of the revolutionary leadership.”

A PROGRAMME FOR SOCIALIST REVOLUTION IN NEPAL

Today in Nepal, a revolutionary situation exists. How far this can go depends on many factors. But for the uprising to transform into a socialist revolution, the key forces of the working class and the peasants must enter the arena of this movement. The movement must move forward, from a movement of youth to a movement of the entire oppressed class.

Power in Nepal is dangling in the air. If the revolutionaries are not organized to take it, the counter-revolutionaries will. Therefore, this movement can only take two steps forward into a socialist revolution or retreat into a loss. The existence of a revolutionary party of the oppressed, capable of unifying the oppressed forces under one single banner, capable of leading the onslaught against capitalism—a party with clear ideas of socialism and concretely how to achieve it—is essential. Sadly, this important feature is non-existent. If the people don’t take power, it will be taken from them; power cannot dangle in the air for long.

In this regard, without an organization of the oppressed, armed with clear ideas of scientific socialism, with great experience in struggle and ready to lead the onslaught, the struggle for socialism in the present uprising in Nepal faces an impediment.

A SOCIALIST REVOLUTION IS POSSIBLE

The struggle in Nepal has shown with absolute clarity that the conditions for the development of revolutionary situations exist. It is not yet an end of history, as defenders of capitalism would want the people to believe. Whichever way the ongoing movement in Nepal finds itself, it has successfully ignited discussions on revolutionary and socialism around the world. The ruling class of the world are once again reminded that each of them sits on ticking time bomb. The development of humanity, a complete shift from capitalism is possible. The genuine forces of socialism also have a great role to play in the unfolding situation globally. The role of uniting the forces of oppressed and organizing the anger of the falls more on socialist revolutionaries especially in a period of lack of militant working class leadership.

June 12: Protesters Call for Sustained Resistance against Tinubu’s Anti-Poor Policies and Attacks on Democratic Rights

On June 12, protests were held in a few states across the country as a continuation of an expression by the working masses and youth of their rejection of the anti-poor capitalist policies of the Tinubu government and its descent into civilian dictatorship with attacks on democratic rights. In other words, the conduct and action of the Tinubu government, which celebrates June 12 as “Democracy Day”, runs contrary to the ideals of the day which was a watershed in a protracted struggle of Nigerians to end military dictatorship and enthrone a democratic rule with the hope of better living standards. However, it is apposite to state that on the basis of bourgeois democracy and economic programme, especially in a neo-colonial country, there was no guarantee that June 12 election won by MKO Abiola would have heralded better living standards for the vast majority.

Members of the Democratic Socialist Movement (DSM) joined socialists and civil society activists to organise protests in Lagos, Oyo and Osun states. The turnout was small compared to the recently past nationwide protests, for instance the last October 1 protest, not talk of the #EndBadGovernance protests in August 2024. For instance, Lagos which recorded the biggest outing had just about 300 protesters.

However, the protests, which were energetic and inspiring, enjoyed massive support from passers-by, bystanders, motorists and residents of areas the protesters passed. This underscores the fact the vast majority of working people and youth remain vehemently opposed to the Tinubu government and its policies. Indeed, this is reflected, in Lagos for instance, in an impressive sale of Socialist Democracy, the paper of the DSM. with a frontpage headline: “Tinubu Has Failed Nigeria”, with the majority of the copies sold being bought by those on the sidelines of the protest. It actually shows that the assertion of the headline resonates with most Nigerians on whose living standards and livelihood the capitalist policies have had devastating effects. For instance, a journalist who bought the paper in Ibadan used the image of the front page with the headline to illustrate the feeling of many Nigerians on the failure of the government in an open letter he did to Tinubu on social media.

The relatively small turnout at June 12 protest is most likely because the past actions were not able to force the Tinubu government to reverse the ruinous policies coupled with its sustained attacks of democratic rights attacking as a deterrent to any resistance and opposition to the policies. Therefore, many chose not to expend their time and energy on the protest but rather faced their daily struggle for survival. The leadership of the labour movement deserves the most blame for this situation. If they had not refused to put forward organised labour as a platform for a serious mass resistance against the anti-poor policies, some real concessions could have been won if not an outright reversal. We therefore reiterate the call on workers and trade union activists to mount a sustained pressure on the labour leadership to organise a serious struggle, for instance, a 24-general strike and mass protest as the first step, against the anti-poor policies of the Tinubu government. Despite a legitimate lack of trust in the leadership of labour by the working people and youth because of the past betrayal a serious mass mobilisation can draw massive supports for a general strike and bring several thousands on the street.

Therefore, the resolve of the working people, youth and activists who have sustained the resistance in the face of a depressing mood, the indolence of labour leadership and the intimidation of the Tinubu government is commendable. They have helped put on the front burner the feeling and position of the vast majority who are firmly against the anti-poor policies despite the propaganda of the government.

The protest despite its size also served as a bold statement and warning to the Tinubu government it is not a walkover for it. The government had to organise a counter protest in Lagos and deploy the police to attempt to intimidate and disorient the anti-government protesters. Besides, given a deep-seated mass anger against the government, it is not ruled out that a spark could provoke a tumultuous revolt before the next general elections.

The support of the Nigeria Bar Association (NBA) Ikeja branch for the protest in Lagos is commendable. Before the protest they sent a letter to the state Commissioner of Police warning him against any plan to violate the rights of the protesters and did a fantastic report, which was widely circulated, after the protest highlighting the unprofessional conducts of the police including their expected bias towards the pro-Tinubu protesters.

Many copies of Socialist Democracy were sold.

Altogether, tens of thousands copies of separate leaflets issued by the #EndBadGovernace Lagos State, Joint Action Front (JAF) and DSM were widely circulated before and during the protest. The leaflets and also various placards in these protests generally call for the reversal of the anti-poor policies, end to attacks on democratic rights, dropping of trumped-up charges against Michael Lenin and others still on sham trial in connection with the #EndBadGovernace nationwide protest of August 2024, a serious tackling of the deepening insecurity etc. The materials of both the DSM and JAF in addition argue for why the working people and youth in addition to sustaining resistance against the anti-poor policies must also support building of a mass working people party on a socialist programme.

TINUBU HAS FAILED NIGERIA

Time For a Socialist Alternative Now!

On May 29, 2025, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu would clock two years in office. In that space of time, his neo-liberal capitalist economic reforms have led to a destruction of livelihoods and the economy on a scale previously unimagined.

By H.T Soweto, lead article ‘Socialist Democracy’, May-June 2025 edition

For example, the pump price of petrol which Tinubu met at N197 per litre when he came to power on May 29, 2023 now hovers around N800 to N900 per litre – a marginal drop from its peak of around N1,100 per litre last year. The naira has also sharply depreciated from N463/$1 in early May 2023 to nearly N1600/$1 as at April 2025. Within the same period, headline inflation rate rose from 23% in April 2023 to 35% in December 2024 – the highest in the last three decades! On the same score, food prices are more than 80% higher than when the election was held.

These are the consequences of the IMF and World Bank neoliberal capitalist reforms, otherwise known as the “Renewed Hope Agenda”, that President Tinubu chose to implement as soon as he took power. In implementing these policies, Tinubu and the ruling All Progressive Congress (APC) had promised that they would lead to prosperity for Nigeria. Two years after, none of the promises has materialized. Instead, the neo-liberal reforms have resulted in greater inequality, hunger and deepening poverty.

TWO YEARS OF BLUNDER

Even from a capitalist point of view, Tinubu’s decision on May 29, 2023 to withdraw fuel subsidy and then shortly after, to devaluate the naira, is nothing short of a blunder. It is no hidden secret that crude oil is the elixir of Nigeria’s neocolonial economy. While only contributing between 5 to 10 percent to the overall GDP, it accounts for nothing less than 80% of national revenue and 90 percent of foreign exchange earnings. Everything – from economic production, to transportation, lighting of homes and offices as well as cooking – runs on affordable petrol and other derivatives from crude oil.

In the same vein, Nigeria’s currency devaluation is unarguably one of the largest adjustments anywhere in the world. Within a few weeks, the naira shed about 70% of its value. Only the Ethiopian currency, birr, has seen a bigger move recently. By tinkering with the oil subsidy which had kept fuel within affordable limits while also devaluing the naira, Tinubu opened the door to a catastrophe. Clearly Tinubu and the clique around him gambled that these moves would have a better outcome than the result of Buhari’s mixture of austerity and attempts to support different economic sectors.

However, the result of Tinubu’s neo-liberal policies is that high inflation, forex volatility and surging production costs have become the defining feature of the economy over the past two years. This has impacted Nigeria’s manufacturing sector causing a contraction. As data shows, the sector’s contribution to the GDP decreased from 8.42% in the third quarter of 2023 to 8.21% in the same period last year while the sector’s growth rate also slowed on the back of weakened consumer demand, escalating production costs, and declining purchasing power. This has forced several multinational firms to relocate out of the country even as others have closed shop. Indeed, an 87.5% surge of unsold inventory running into N2.14 trillion was recorded for the year 2024 compared to 2023, a report of the Manufacturer Association of Nigeria (MAN) has shown.

One of the consequences of naira devaluation is the improvement in Nigeria’s balance of payments as well as increase in national revenue. As the value of the currency has fallen, Nigeria’s dollar earnings from oil and gas sales, customs and excise duties, VAT and corporate income tax have all increased exponentially. This, together with the removal of oil subsidies, has caused a narrowing of Nigeria’s fiscal deficit from 6.4% of GDP in early 2023 to 4.4% in early 2024. Also, for the first time in many years, Nigeria’s has recorded a trade surplus while Nigeria’s foreign reserves now exceed $40 billion.

But these gains have been made at the cost of near destruction of the economy. As we write, more than half of Nigeria’s total Gross Domestic Product (GDP) has been wiped off over the past two years that Tinubu came to power. Despite the picture of growth that its naira-denominated variant portrays, the country’s GDP in dollar terms has actually declined from $363.82 billion in 2023 to $188.27 billion in 2025.

They are also unstainable gains. At some point, currency devaluation can result in an opposite effect one of which is encouraging capital flight in the form of companies and individuals finding ways to repatriate their wealth out of the country. Moreso, whatever macroeconomic stability has been achieved through the reforms now face headwinds from a global capitalist economy in turmoil.

WORLD ECONOMY IN TURMOIL

Since President Donald Trump came into power at the Oval Office in the US, his administration has become the great accelerator of all the contradictions of the global capitalist order. The developing trade war, provoked by Trump’s imposition of tariffs in April, has led to ripples in stock market and crash in crude oil price on the world market.

From its peak in January, Brent crude, the international oil benchmark, has dropped 19.31%. This poses grave consequence for commodity exporters like Nigeria. This explains why the International Monetary Fund (IMF) has now cut its growth forecast from Nigeria from 3.2% to 3%. This is expected to slow further to 2.7% next year. Although marginal, this speaks to the fragility of Nigeria’s economy two years into the reform.

Nigeria’s 2024 budget forecast oil at $75 a barrel but crude oil has slumped to around $66. One of the immediate impacts for Nigeria would be a decline in revenue. This will have the effect of reversing any gain in fiscal balance that the government reforms have reportedly achieved. The IMF estimates the country’s current account balance will shrink from 9.1% of GDP last year to 6.9 per cent in 2025.

This is on top of the warning by the US investment bank JP Morgan that Nigeria could slide into a current account deficit if the decline in oil prices is sustained. Lower oil price also means lower foreign exchange earnings. This will cause further instability in the foreign exchange market with the possibility of the dollar exchanging for as high as N2, 000 in a short period of time. Presently, the British pound has crossed the mark as it already exchanges for over N2, 000 to a naira.

Reduced revenue may also make it more difficult for Nigeria to service its existing debt, further straining its finances. As of March 2024, Nigeria’s total public debt stood at N121.67 trillion ($91.46 billion) – an increase of N24.33 trillion from December 2023. Debt servicing consumed 47%, N13.12 trillion, of the Federal Government’s total expenditure in the first nine months of 2024, highlighting the significant burden on the nation’s finances. Any significant shortfall in revenue therefore poses an even greater catastrophe than what has been experienced in the last two years.

GROWING INSECURITY

A feature of Tinubu’s two years in power is the regime’s cluelessness in the face of the growing insecurity across the country. Nigeria’s countryside, from the East to the North, is practically in a state of war.

In the North east of the country, Boko Haram and the Islamic State of West African Province (ISWAP) have increased their attacks. Their two-pronged assaults on military bases in Borno state and alongside Nigeria’s border with Cameroon between 24 and 25 March 2025 introduces a new frightening dimension to the conflict. Eye witness accounts suggest that the Islamist militants utilized armed drones in the attack. This could mark a new stage in a conflict that has lasted over ten years leading to about 30, 000 deaths while displacing about two million people.

In the Middle belt and towards the South, the violent actions of bandits and kidnappers have also continued. In the South East of the country, the agitation by the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) as well as Eastern Security Network (ESN) has not abated. Curiously, the regime continues to hold the separatist leader, Nnamdi Kanu, in prison even when his continuous detention is a crucial element provoking the violence. Neither has the perennial violent conflict between herders and farmers stopped. This year has already witnessed a certain deterioration in the historical conflict over land and water resources. Alongside this is a high risk of a religious war breaking out due to how the violence is stoking religious sentiment.

Tension is high in most communities while security forces have been accused of failing to protect villagers from attacks. At least, 13,346 people were killed and over 9,207 abducted within the first one year of Tinubu’s administration. Sadly, the major conflict-zones are concentrated in states which account for most of Nigeria’s food production. Consequently, the rampaging insecurity is part of the major factors driving food inflation in the country.

WE CANNOT CONTINUE LIKE THIS

Despite all the movement in inflation, income growth for the rest of the working population remains weak reflecting limited gain in living standards over the past two years. From a GDP per capital of $2, 200 in 2022, Nigeria’s GDP per capita declined to $835 in 2025 highlighting how much toll Tinubu’s reforms have taken on the masses. In the same vein, wages have stayed abysmally low relative to the rate of inflation. Indeed, when the dollar value is considered, the current N70, 000 minimum wage negotiated by trade unions last year has the same purchasing power as Nigeria’s wage of N125 four decades ago!

Aside shelter, food and transportation are crucial elements of a workers’ wage. Yet these are sectors showing some of the highest inflation increase in price. While food have seen an 80% increase in prices in recent times, transport fares for interstate travel rose by 403.5%, airfares rose by 280.7% on the average while water transport fares also rose by 148.8 percent rise over the past two years. As a report by Business Day Newspaper shows, three out of ten workers allocate over 20% of their salary to transport costs while over 50% of Nigerians spend almost all of their income on food alone.

The result is an ever-expanding arc of misery for the working masses and the poor. Indeed, some families now go without food as they cannot afford to have three square meals in 24 hours. Yet, a few billionaires have seen their wealth increase exponentially within the past two years showing the pro-rich character of Tinubu’s reforms. According to Forbes, billionaire Aliko Dangote has seen his wealth nearly double from $13.4 billion last year to $23.9 billion in January 2025, which ranks the Nigerian entrepreneur as the wealthiest person in Africa and 86th in the world. Three other billionaires, Mike Adenuga, Abdulsamad Rabiu, and Femi Otedola, have seen their wealth increase in the same manner.

Their combined wealth, derived from inheritance, monopoly power, and cronyism, is valued at $23.7 billion. This is an amount so vast that, according to Oxfam, it could easily cover the whole of Lagos city in 500-naira notes. In fact, Aliko Dangote alone could spend N1 million daily for 42 years without depleting his fortune! Meanwhile, over 133 million Nigerians, around 70% of the population, are struggling with hunger while thousands are dying because they cannot afford hospital bills.

Faced with an economic policy that is not working increasingly Tinubu’s answer to both insecurity and opposition is repression. But this will not work because Tinubu’s regime is both a defendant and servant of the capitalist system whose failures are at the root cause of the issues. With the majority facing falling living standards while the multi-millionaire Tinubu regularly takes ‘working’ holidays in Europe resentment can only grow. Tinubu knows that under nine million actually voted for him and now he is fearful of the tens of millions of Nigerians that don’t support him, hence repression of protesters and suppression of music critical of him.

WHAT NEEDS TO BE DONE

165 years ago, Karl Marx noted that “there is something rotten in the very the core of a society that increases its wealth without diminishing its misery”. The extreme wealth inequality which are the result of Tinubu’s neoliberal economic reforms of the past two years is not only an indictment of Tinubu himself, it is also an indication that capitalism is broken and need to be replaced.

This raises the question as to whether there is no other way of running Nigeria other than the corruption, cronyism, exploitation and repression that have been the defining feature of governance over the past 6 decades. There is actually another way. That is through the Socialist reconstruction of Nigeria. This would require the working class coming to power and nationalizing the commanding heights of Nigeria’s economy like the oil and gas firms, big monopoly companies and banks and their placement under workers democratic control and management. Such a step backed by a socialist plan of development can begin to ensure that Nigeria’s economy is run to meet the needs of the people instead of the greed of a few billionaires.

It is also under such an arrangement that Nigeria’s insecurity can be tackled through the democratic resolution of the National Question which is a crucial factor behind the cacophonic agitations across the country.

To achieve this however means that the working people, youth, trade unions and pro-masses organisations have to step up the struggle against Tinubu’s anti-poor policies, for a living minimum wage, against repression while starting the crucial work of building a political vehicle, a mass workers party on a socialist program, to begin to fight to wrest political power from the hands of the capitalist gangsters holding the country to ransom and begin the socialist reconstruction of Nigeria.