Students and Youth – Nigeria Solidarity

State Abduction of Kola Edokpayi and Very Dark Man Are Signs of Growing Authoritarianism of the Tinubu Regime That Must Be Resisted Through Mass Struggle

Release Them Now!

The Youth Rights Campaign (YRC) condemns the arrest of Kola Edokpayi by the Department of State Services (DSS) and subsequent abduction of Martin Vincent Otse, aka Very Dark Man (VDM), by the Economic and Financial Crime Commission (EFCC). Also condemnable is the incarceration of Thomas Umar, the State coordinator of the Take it Back (TIB) movement in Gombe State, for making social media posts critical of the government.

We hereby demand the immediate and unconditional release of all the activists and a halt to further erosion of democratic rights.

As far as we are concerned, this abuse of power and heavy repression of critics and free speech further demonstrate the growing authoritarianism of the Bola Tinubu regime.

We believe the call by Kola Edokpayi for a Pan African Solidarity protest in solidarity with the Ibrahim Traore of Burkina Faso is not an offense under Nigerian or international law. We also find it worrisome that VDM who is a social commentator and a vocal critic of oppressive acts of government and its agencies was abducted by the EFCC, an agency whose only responsibility is to fight financial crimes and not to abduct those who are critical of their activities.

While this arbitrary abduction and arrest of innocent Nigerians and vocal critics continue unabated, the security agencies have closed their eyes to the trending video of a factional NANS president who has alleged Seyi Tinubu of sending cultists to abduct, torture, and strip him naked. Up till now, neither the police nor any other security agency has invited Seyi Tinubu for questioning let alone effected his arrest.

We call on Nigerian youth to commence mobilization towards a Nationwide protest to reject Tinubu’s authoritarianism and his policies of hunger, misery and hopelessness.

We demand the immediate and unconditional release of Kola Edokpayi, VDM, Thomas Umar and all Nigerians currently incarcerated for expressing their views or criticizing oppressive acts. We also demand dropping of charges against Adaramoye Michael Lenin and 10 others in the Abuja ‘treason’ trial as well as freedom for all #Endbadgovernance protesters still in jail.

Francis Nwapa

National Secretary

Youth Rights Campaign

Email: youth_rights@yahoo.com

YRC condemns Tinubu regime for placing children on trial over August 1-10 protest

Demands their unconditional release and the dropping of charges against all protestors

On Friday, 1st November 2024, the Nigerian government arraigned 76 protesters, including 32 minors aged between 14 and 17, for ‘terrorism and treason’ at a Federal High Court in Abuja and January 24, 2025 was set as the start date for their trial. The protesters who were arrested from the Northern parts of the country during the #Endbadgovernance protest that rocked Nigeria from 1st to 10 August 2024 had spent 93 days in police detention due to a court order. These 76 were the first batch of detainees to be charged as later on Friday a further 43 people were arraigned on similar charges in the same court.

The children in the first group were looking dishevelled, sick and visibly malnourished as they huddled together in the dock – a visible sign of their poor treatment and possibly torture while in detention. At least 4 of them, one aged 14 and including an adult, slumped while waiting to take their pleas; with one on the ground writhing in pain thereby the judge had to pause proceedings briefly.

We of the Youth Rights Campaign (YRC) condemn the Tinubu government for this inhumane treatment of the children and other detainees. We recognize that the judge discharged the 4 defendants that slumped from the proceedings until they medically fit, while the rest were granted bail but each with the now usual stringent conditions such as surety of N10 million. However, as far as we are concerned, even this is not enough because all it means is that they all will continue to stand trial over outrageously false charges of terrorism and treason.

We hereby demand that all charges against the children and other detainees be dropped completely and they should be reunited with their families immediately. Children should be in school, not in court. Putting them on trial purportedly for plotting to topple a government is nothing but a moral outrage. It shows that the Tinubu government has clearly lost any modicum of reason. Rather it has now becoming a rampaging civilian capitalist dictatorship bereft of all decency and one, fearing the population, seeks to rule by intimidation.

Meanwhile, Friday’s arraignment marks an escalation in President Tinubu’s assault on the right to protest and asphyxiation of all democratic rights and freedoms. Just two weeks ago, 22 protesters were arrested, and then beaten ruthlessly, by the police at the Lekki tollgate, Lagos state, for attempting to commemorate the EndSARS massacre four years ago.

Next week, Friday 8 November 2024, the trial of another group of 11 protesters, Adaramoye Michael Lenin (YRC national coordinator) and 10 others, for treason is scheduled to commence at the Federal High Court, also in Abuja. They are being tried for treason because they participated in a peaceful protest in August against hunger and hardship.

We of the YRC hereby demand that charges against Adaramoye Michael Lenin and all protesters standing trial be dropped immediately. We also demand a halt to all attacks on democratic rights. Protest is not treason. We affirm the right of the Nigerian people and youth to continue to organize to resist the anti-poor capitalist policies of the Tinubu regime which has plunged society into unimaginable hunger and misery.

Francis Nwapa

YRC National Secretary.

Email: yrccampaigns@gmail.com

USW students demand no expulsions!

Campaigning against deportation of Nigerian students at University of South Wales. Photo: Mariam Kamish — Campaigning against deportation of Nigerian students at University of South Wales

‘No exclusions for students who can’t pay’; ‘Extend payment to the end of courses’; ‘Allow students to pay at the old naira rate of N584’.

Those were demands on our placards, as our delegation of students and supporters made its way through the campus of the University of South Wales (USW) on 3 May.

We were carrying with us the good wishes of a number of others who – due to course commitments, work or nerves – could not be there. With the Nigerian currency worth a third of what it was a year ago, many students are finding it impossible to pay their fees on time.

We were heading to Ty Crawshay – the admin building at USW – named for the old mine and ironworks-owning family which working-class people rebelled against in the Merthyr Rising of 1831.

Student staff on reception looked a little scared when we said we were there to see the vice chancellor (VC).

We marched to the top of the building and found the VC wasn’t in. So, we handed in our letter, took photos, recorded a speech – and put the lot on social media.

Now, we need to mobilise pressure to get results. Students at Surrey University have won a partial victory. We can, too. (see ‘Nigerian students face deportation but Surrey students win reprieve’)

Please send messages of support to our Socialist Party organised campaign.

If you’re a trade unionist, please say so in your message – and please ask your branch to support the campaign. Messages from those in UCU, Unison and Unite would be particularly useful. All will be forwarded to the vice chancellor at USW.

If you’re a Nigerian student or know someone who is, and this is an issue at your local uni, get in touch: contact@nigeriasolidarity.com

Nigerian students face deportation but Surrey students win reprieve

Nigerian international students are in a desperate situation.

As a result of the severe economic crisis in Nigeria, and drastic devaluation of the Nigerian currency, the naira, many students are unable to cover the eye-watering costs of living and studying in the UK.

This crisis was set in motion by the disastrous policies of the Nigerian president Bola Tinubu, whose government last year decided to ‘float’ the naira – essentially allowing the currency’s value to be determined by market forces for the first time in years. This policy instantly led to the biggest-ever collapse in the value of the naira.

300% increase

The naira has lost two-thirds of its value against the pound in less than a year. For Nigerian students in the UK, this means a 300% increase in the cost of tuition fees, rent, and other living costs.

Disgracefully, universities across the UK are moving to exclude Nigerian students who can no longer pay their tuition fees. This would effectively mean deportation, as students would no longer have a sponsoring institution for their visas.

In response to this threat, at the University of Surrey approached the university’s Nigerian Society, and helped launch a campaign to stop the expulsions.

The campaign began with a joint meeting, which agreed a set of demands aimed at university management:

Ensure no exclusions for Nigerian students who are unable to pay their tuition fees

Extend the payment period for Nigerian students struggling to pay their tuition fees

Allow students to pay their tuition fees at the pre-floatation naira rate of N584.20

As a way to galvanise support for these demands, and put pressure on management, the meeting also agreed an emergency protest for the following week. We decided to march through campus on 22 April, and deliver a joint letter to the vice-chancellor’s office, to put forward our demands, and request an in-person meeting between the vice-chancellor and representatives of the campaign.

Protesting works

Our campaign has shown that protesting wins! The university management has now said that it will allow Nigerian students to stay on at the university, if they pay 50% of their originally agreed fee instalment for this term. This is a welcome concession, and importantly gives us time to regroup, and plan the next steps for the campaign.

However, for any student who cannot afford 50% of their instalment, we must continue to demand no exclusions, while also continuing to raise the demand for students to pay fees at the old rate of naira. If necessary, we will organise future protests to back up these demands.

Spread to other unis

Another crucial way to strengthen our campaign at the University of Surrey is to spread these demands to other campuses. This crisis is affecting Nigerian students at universities around the UK. That’s why we will be reaching out to Nigerian societies around the country to initiate similar campaigns on their campus.

As part of our campaign, members in Surrey have also contacted campus trade unions which, like students, are in battle against management – in their case, over the threat of up to 140 job cuts.

Vice-chancellors cut jobs for the same reason that they charge international students ridiculously high tuition fees – to make up for a broken higher education funding model. That’s why we calls for a united movement of students and staff nationally to win fully funded, free education for all.