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.
CDWR SUPPORTS NLC-LED PROTEST RALLY AGAINST 50% HIKE IN TELECOMMUNICATION TARIFF
CDWR CALLS ON NLC TO LEAD A DETERMINED MASS RESISTANCE AGAINST ALL ANTI-POOR POLICIES
Campaign for Democratic and Workers’ Rights (CDWR) condemns the recent approval of 50% tariff hike in telecommunication services by the Nigerian Communications Commissions (NCC). This outrageous hike in telecoms tariff will worsen the already high cost of living and increase cost of doing business; thereby compounding the economic hardship faced by workers and the masses. It is for this reason, the CDWR is in support of the protest rally called by the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) and scheduled to take place on Tuesday January 4, 2025.
The telecom operators and NCC have argued that operating cost has increased and has made hike in telecom tariff inevitable. Telecom operators cited hike in the prices of petroleum products, devaluation of the Naira, hike in electricity tariff etc. Unfortunately, the telecom big companies like other big business capitalist supported President Tinubu anti-poor policies or did not oppose it but now use it as the justification for the increase in tariff, Considering the damaging effect of these neo-liberal policies, the reasonable thing to do is for the Tinubu-led government to reverse these policies. Rather than doing this the government and its private sector big business collaborators are hiking tariff, passing on the burden to the working masses and inflicting more hardship on the working masses.
It is not shocking that government granted every request of big businesses and IMF/World Bank to hike tariffs and prices for the purpose of guaranteeing huge profits for the privileged few at the expenses of the masses. This is so because it is a government run by big businesses, imperialism and their agents. Tinubu government’s consolidation on the neoliberal programme through hike in prices of petroleum products and electricity as well as the devaluation of Naira made the cost of living, production and services spiralling out of control, drove inflation to a new high and imposed an unprecedented hardship in the land.
The reason the Tinubu-led government and the private sector are emboldened to impose more hardship on the masses is because of the failure of the leadership of the trade unions to put up a resistance fight against anti-poor policies. The NLC leadership has failed to sustain resistance struggle in the past despite voicing an opposition to some of the anti-poor policies. Indeed, together with the TUC leadership, they practically did little or nothing to resist the petrol subsidy removal and the devaluation of the naira. It is not possible for the NLC to successfully fight the telecom 50% tariff hike without waging a determined struggle to reverse electricity tariff hike, hike in prices of petroleum products, increase in school fees etc. Hence, the NLC leadership should dedicate itself to leading a sustained resistance struggle against all anti-poor policies.
It is not enough to embark on a-day rallies across the country and go to sleep. For instance, the NLC and TUC leadership were opposed to electricity tariff hike but failed to resist it. The leadership of the NLC and TUC must change from its present lacklustre attitude towards struggle that defends the interest of the working people and wage a relentless and sustained mass struggle against all anti-poor neo-liberal policies including well-mobilised general strikes and mass protest. NLC and TUC leadership, workers and the poor masses should demand the nationalisation of the commanding heights of the economy and placed under democratic control and management of workers and community people. This is in order to make possible a judicious and efficient use of the collective wealth of the country for the interest of the vast majority.
SIGNED:
Comrade Chinedu Bosah National Publicity Secretary
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.
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.
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
We demand compensation for the Failure of IBEDC and Darkness imposed on the People
Only re-nationalization of power sector under a democratic control and management of the elected representatives of working people can usher in efficiency
The Oyo State Chapter of the Coalition for Affordable and Regular Electricity (CARE) rejects in totality, the flimsy excuses offered by the Ibadan Electricity Distribution Company (IBEDC) in its apology through a statement published on January 19, 2025. According to media reports, the IBEDC acknowledged its failure to provide the expected number of hours of electricity to consumers across the state. As far as we are concerned, the incessant apologies from IBEDC are insufficient to compensate for adverse consequences of poor electricity supply faced by consumers. Most electricity consumers across the state are forced to either tolerate an extended period of darkness at huge cost of electricity tariff or spend a substantial portion of their meagre income to fuel and maintain generators.
It is in the light of this, we demand a rebates on consumers’ bills as a form of compensation for the extensive periods of power outage during which consumers were unjustly denied accesses to electricity supply. Beyond this is the need for the IBEDC, as well as other private electricity companies, to admit the obvious truth and reality that it lacks the capacity to guarantee affordable and regular electricity for mass of the Nigerian working people. Since the power sector’s privatisation in 2013, Nigerians have been subjected to frequent electricity tariff hikes and widespread power outages. The situation is also characterised by a repeated collapse of the national grid many times every year. throwing the entire country into darkness at different times. For instance, it happened twelve times in 2024. Nigeria’s electricity supply remains woefully inadequate with a meagre 3800 megawatt of power being generated, transmitted and distributed despite an installed capacity of approximately 13,000MW. Furthermore, staggering 80 million Nigerians, predominantly from rural areas, are unconnected to the national grid, exacerbating the country’s energy crisis.
The Minister of Power’s admission that the grid collapse should be expected at any time is a stark indication that the current power sector crisis will continue for a long time, in the face of the existing privatization policy. This, which is a clear call for an immediate overhaul of the sector, forms a major basis for our call for the immediate re-nationalization of the power sector under the democratic control of the elected representatives of the working people. A power sector under public ownership and democratic control of workers and consumers will usher in massive public investment that will drive the cost of electricity down and making it affordable in the long run for most Nigerian consumers.
We hereby call on the leadership of trade unions, particularly the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) and Trade Union Congress (TUC) and community organizations to support the demand for the renationalization of the power sector under the control of workers and the electricity consumers.
YRC Warns the NPF to Desist from Bullying Amnesty International over Its Exposure of Police Misconduct and Brutal Crackdown on Peaceful Protests
We Stand by Amnesty International’s Report and Demand the Immediate Suspension of the IGP in Order to Create Room for an Independent and Transparent Probe
The Youth Rights Campaign (YRC) condemns the recent public statement issued by the Nigeria Police Force (NPF) demanding an apology from Amnesty International over its report titled “Bloody August: Nigeria Government’s Violent Crackdown on #EndBadGovernance Protests” made by the group on the cruel conducts of officers of the Nigeria Police Force during and after the #Endbadgovernance protest last August. The police also demanded that Amnesty International issues a public retraction within seven days of the whole report which it dismissed as baseless, false and misleading.
We hereby warn the Nigerian Police Force to desist from bullying the Amnesty International. We also warn the NPF against any attempt to victimize workers or members of Amnesty International for daring to report the obvious truth.
As far as we are concerned, as a party accused of misconduct and a bloody crackdown, the Nigerian Police Force (NPF) has no moral authority whatsoever to adjudge the veracity of the allegations made by Amnesty International in its report let alone the audacity to begin to demand public retraction and apology. The right body that can cast judgement over the veracity or otherwise of Amnesty International’s revelation is a democratically-constituted and independent panel of inquiry. That President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has failed to constitute such since last year when Amnesty International’s report came out is a clear indication that the President is shielding the police from answering for its crimes against humanity.
This becomes even more unacceptable when a body established by an Act of the National Assembly and funded from the federation account, the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC), has already corroborated Amnesty International findings. In October last year, the Executive Secretary of the NHRC, Chief Tony Ojukwu SAN, in an interview with Vanguard (20 October 2024), accused the NPF of extra judicial murder of nothing less than 27 people during the protest.
So what then is false about report of the Amnesty International? Why has the police not asked the NHRC to also publicly retract their own claims and apologize for it? We reject this arm-twisting tactics by the Nigerian Police. You cannot kill innocent peaceful protesters and then turn around to begin to threaten those who boldly expose your crime.
For us, the NPF is only exhibiting blatant shamelessness and an attempt to further clamp down on dissent and cover-up the atrocities committed by its officers during the Endbadgovernance protest. The protest had the active participation of thousands of Nigerians who witnessed the gruesome attacks on them by the police – even journalists were not spared. There are numerous media reports confirming the cruelty of the NPF during the protest. The report by Amnesty International is a factual representation of the reality of Nigerians during the Endbadgovernance protests.
NPF, instead of accepting responsibility for the misconduct and attacks it carried out, is only trying to maliciously conceal the obvious truth. The so-called internal probe by the NPF force, where it falsely found itself innocent of the allegations made against it by Amnesty International and other civil society organizations like the Youth Rights Campaign, is an insult to the rationality of Nigerians. How do you become a jury in your case? We ask. The NPF is an indicted party in this case, yet it constituted a probe panel to white wash itself. The Youth Rights Campaign (YRC) rejects the so-called in-house probe and investigation by the Nigeria Police force as it is an attempt to mislead Nigerians and create justification for an attack on dissent especially the Amnesty International.
We reiterate our call for the suspension of the Inspector General of Police, Kayode Egbetokun, to allow for an impartial, independent and public probe into the conducts of the police and other security forces during the #Endbadgovernance protest in August. We also call for the setting up of an independent probe panel democratically-constituted by the elected representatives of civil society, professional groups like the media, NBA, etc, trade unions and youth associations to investigate the various allegations against the police and other security agencies which includes usage include the use of excessive force, firing of live bullets, killing of peaceful protesters, torture of detainees as well as other heinous crimes as contained in the report of Amnesty International as well as several accounts of protesters and civil society groups.
We hereby join Amnesty International and all people of good conscience in calling for immediate action to address these injustices. Specifically, we demand the following:
The prosecution of all police officers and officers of all other security agencies including the DSS and the army responsible for the killings of innocent Nigerians during the protests
The immediate suspension of the Inspector General of Police (IGP), Kayode Egbetokun, to allow for an independent, impartial, and transparent investigation into the human rights abuses and extrajudicial killings that occurred during the #EndBadGovernance protests.
The constitution of an impartial and independent panel democratically-constituted by elected representatives of civil society organisations (CSOs), the Nigerian Union of Journalist (NUJ), the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA), trade unions and other pro-democracy organisations and youth groups to ensure transparency and accountability.
The withdrawal of all trumped-up charges against #Endbadgovernance protesters on trial and the immediate release of all those still in detention detained nationwide. We also demand a halt to the continued assaults on democratic rights.
Compensation for all victims of the police brutality and their families to help alleviate the impact of the tragic losses.
The meeting of all demands of the #Endbadgovernance protest in August.
CDWR ADVOCATES PROGRESSIVE TAXATION, MORE TAXES ON BIG BUSINESS PROFITS AND BILLIONAIRES’ LIFESTYLE AND NATIONALISATION AND DEMOCRATIC CONTROL OF COMMANDING HEIGHTS OF ECONOMY
The Campaign for Democratic and Workers Rights (CDWR) strongly hold that the proposed tax reform by the Bola Tinubu government, currently before the National Assembly, is primarily designed to reduce the tax being paid by big businesses while the low-income earners pay more. The working people must reject the tax reform that tends to place a greater burden on them in addition to the prevailing anti-poor policies which have devastated their living standards.
The current disagreement between different sections of the capitalist elite is essentially over who have greater access to taxpayer money for their self-serving interest. It is not about the interest working masses and the poor of their region or ethnic origin. Therefore, we call on leadership of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) and Trade Union Congress (TUC) to unite and mobilise the working masses and the poor across the country to reject and resist this anti-poor tax policy
The tax reform consist of four bills:
Nigeria Tax Bill, 2024;
Nigeria Tax Administration Bill, 2024
Nigeria Revenue Service Establishment Bill
Joint Revenue Board Establishment Bill
These four tax bills will replace 11 tax laws such as Capital Gains Tax Act, Companies Income Tax Act, Petroleum Profits Tax Act, Value Added Tax Act, Deep Offshore and Inland Basin Act, Stamp Duties Act, Personal Income Tax Act, Casino Act, Industrial Development (Income Tax Relief) Act, Venture Capital (Incentives) Act and Income Tax (Authorised Communication) Act.
What has dominated the media discourse is the opposition of the northern ruling elite to the proposed sharing formula of revenue which has increased the ratio based on derivative and reduced the ratio based on population. The northern ruling elite, just like their southern counterpart, do not care a hoot about workers and the poor masses and the development of the country but are interested in the sustenance of their own privileges and primitive wealth accumulation.
According to the current Value Added Tax Act, the proceeds are shared in the following ratio: FG (15%), state governments (50%) and local governments (35%). Out of the VAT revenue that goes to the state governments, 50% is shared to all states equally, 30% is shared based on population while 20% is shared on the basis of derivation. The northern ruling elite is opposed to the sharing formula in the Tax Bill because the ratio percentage based on derivative is now 60%. Section 77 of the Nigeria Tax Administration Bill shares the net revenue as follows: 10% to Federal Government; 55% to the State Governments and 35% to the Local Governments. Unlike the current sharing ratio, the bill states that 60% of the amount allocated to the State and Local Governments will be based on derivative, in other words on the basis of the revenue generated in different states and local governments.
As stated earlier the main agenda of the tax reform is to increase revenue and make the working class pay more through a regressive backward tax system. For instance the Section 146 (c) of the Nigeria Tax Bill has increased the percentage of VAT charged on goods and services from 7.5% to 10% in 2025, 12.5% from 2026 to December 2029 and from January 2030 to 15% irrespective of the social status of VAT payers. In view of the low purchasing power and growing poverty, VAT increment will exacerbate the current cost of living crises, affect production, services and create more joblessness and poverty. This VAT increment is never a subject of controversy or struggle amongst the self-serving ruling elite because they will benefit more from the potential revenue increment. However, while both the northern and southern governors have agreed in principle to an increase in the VAT, they do not want the implementation to commence immediately apparently as a result of fear of backlash from the working masses.
The tax reforms also seek to gradually reduce the revenue accrued to the Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFUND) from 2025 to 2030 when it will be eventually scrapped. TETFUND, which at present takes two percent of company profits, provides limited infrastructure and facilities that exist in most tertiary institutions in Nigeria. This two percent of company profits will in the final analysis be transferred to Student Education Loan Fund in 2030. Therefore, a further increment in the already obnoxious fees, beyond the capacity of many students from working class and the poor families, charged by tertiary institutions should be expected. The tax reform is a further proof that Student Education Loan Fund is designed as a justification for the abdication of responsibility to adequately fund public tertiary education by the government. It passes the cost of education funding on students and their parents whose struggle for some years will be towards repaying debts. Again, working people and students must reject the tax reforms together with the student loan policy. Rather, they should demand adequate funding of public education by the government and democratic management of tertiary institutions. We welcome the opposition of the Academic Staff Union (ASUU) to the plan to scrap TETFUND and call for a joint struggle of all education workers unions and students to resist and defeat the plan.
Moreover in the Bills while most workers and poor people are made to pay more taxes juicy tax incentives and exemptions are awarded to some big businesses and billionaires. Section 60 and Second Schedule of the Nigeria Tax Bill exempt big business concentrated at the Export Processing and Free Trade Zone from paying taxes except where such businesses sell over 25% of their produce in the country. Dangote Petrochemical worth about $20 billion is one of such businesses enjoying tax free venture. Similarly, under the current tax regime, big companies (over N100 million annual turnover) pay 30% of profits while medium companies (over N25 million to N100 million turnover) pays 20% profit rate but Section 54 of Nigeria Tax Bill has reduced tax payable by big companies to 27.5% in 2025 and further reduction to 25% in 2026.
Concessions and incentives to big businesses continue in Section 167 of the Nigeria Tax Bill wherein the so-called big business priority sectors including petrochemical and gas companies are awarded Tax Incentives. Aside from tax waivers, exemptions and incentives usually awarded to many big businesses, the capitalists usually use all manners of falsifications to pay little or no tax including using experts to doctor the financial books.
As is the established norm, a chunk of these revenue generated are looted or wasted. For instance, the present national assembly spent over 70 billion Naira in 2023 to purchase luxurious cars for senators and House of Representatives members costing about 160 million Naira per one. This is aside from the tens of billions of Naira mostly stolen or mismanaged in the name of ‘Constituency Allowances and Projects’ by the legislators. This is an example of profligacy and corruption that is replicated across the country from local government to the Presidency, State Houses of Assembly, parastatals, agencies, ministries etc. Through the award of contracts by the executive arm of government at all levels, hundreds of billions of Naira are fraudulently stolen by top government functionaries annually. Through the implementation of neo-liberal policies of privatisation, deregulation, cut in social spending etc., public wealth and resources are stolen from the people by a handful of privileged individuals. Therefore, no matter the amount of revenue that is generated through tax, rent, royalties, levies etc., the people are shortchanged and society remains in backwardness.
Some supporters of the tax including government spokespersons have argued that our tax to GDP ratio is one of the lowest in the world and there is a need to increase revenue for development. Tax to GDP ratio will remain low because big businesses and billionaires do not pay their fair share, most of them pay little or no tax. Increased revenue under the control of a corrupt and wasteful capitalist ruling elite in the past did not translate into meaningful development and will not develop the Nigerian economy in the event that more revenue is generated today and in the future. In the capitalist economy, most of societal wealth and resources is trapped in private control through the ‘ownership’ of means of production and there is little or no development that can be secured particularly in backward economies through this unfair and unequal arrangement. This is why the CDWR supports the call for the commanding heights of the economy to be nationalised and placed under democratic control and management of the working class in order to be utilised to meet the needs of all. However, it should be stressed that to achieve this the working masses need their own mass party to wrest power from the thieving capitalist elite.
Lastly, the CDWR reiterates the call on the leadership of NLC, TUC and pro-masses organisations to sensitise and mobilise workers and community people to vehemently resist these tax bills along with other anti-poor policies.
The Socialist Party Of Nigeria (SPN) sympathizes with the families of victims and cautions against the deceitful crocodile tears by the pro-capitalist politicians and governments formed by them!
We demand a democratic committee with representatives of NLC, TUC, NBA, ASUU, civil society, religious organizations among others for a transparent compilation of victims and adequate compensation
On Wednesday, 18th December, 2024, no fewer than 35 children mostly of the poor and working class background reportedly lost their lives, with six persons critically injured, during a stampede at a funfair event that was organized for children at Islamic High School in the Bashorun area in Ibadan.
According to media reports, the event was originally planned to accommodate a maximum of 5,000 attendees between the age 1 and 13 years old with different forms of benefits including food, drinks, scholarship and opportunity to participate in different social activities at no cost. To average working-class parents without means of guaranteeing a daily meal for their children due to the imposition of several anti-people policies by Nigerian capitalist governments at all levels, this kind of free events will definitely be seen as a means of a sort of respite. For instance, the prospect of their children wining a scholarship and have an access to education which is widely believed to be a way to break away from poverty was an attraction.
Going by this background, it is absolutely clear that it is the struggle for survival that better explains why many parents largely of poor and working class background were desperate in ensuring that their children were able to attend the programme. This especially when there was a prior information by the organizers that the targeted attendees were 5,000 children and no child would be allowed to enter and participate in the programme once the target was met. As a matter of fact some parents were so desperate to an extent that they had travel a day ahead of the programme from different towns outside Ibadan and passed a night at several open places, including the entrance of the venue of the event, in order to ensure that their children were among the 5000 attendees targeted for the event. Reports also have it that some adults without child or children were also among the people struggling to attend the funfair strictly organized for children. Consequently, the gate of the venue of the event was reportedly besieged as early as 6am with massive crowd comprising of adults and children whose number far exceeded the 5000 targeted by the organizers. This is the cause of the unfortunate stampede during which several children were trapped and either died or injured.
Suffice to state that it is a similar struggle for survival that was also responsible for the stampede that occurred at the Nasarawa State University, Keffi, around March this year, at a venue for the distribution of palliatives. Two female students of the university died with several persons injured. Seven people were also reportedly killed during another stampede that occurred at Yaba Lagos again early this year while struggling to buy confiscated rice being sold by the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) at a lower price. All of these unfortunate developments are sad consequences of the excruciating condition of poverty and misery in the midst of plenty under which mass of the Nigerian working people are forced to live across the country.
The Socialist Party of Nigeria (SPN), Oyo State Branch, shares the pains of many Nigerians who have either lost their live or injured in this kind of unfortunate circumstance. We at the same time express our sympathy for the relatives of the victims. However, we hold that the pro-capitalist politicians, their political parties and the anti-people polices implemented by their pro-capitalist governments are the root cause of the Ibadan tragedy as well as all other forms of calamity and disasters bedeviling the Nigeria working people at the present time. In other words, the conditions of mass suffering, poverty, joblessness among other being faced by the Nigeria workers, youths and poor today are direct consequences of the various anti-people policies like privitisation and deregulation of public utilities, including commercialization of social services like education and health care, being implemented by Nigerian capitalist governments at all levels.
This is why we urge the working people and youth not to be deceived by the avalanche of condolences messages the pro-capitalist politicians within and outside the state including government formed by them at all levels have expressed since the stampede occurred. As far as we are concerned, all of the condolences messages from these pro-capitalist politicians are just mere crocodile tears which are not only fake but also a means to exploit the stampede and its travail to project their own political profile and self-serving agenda. None of these pro-capitalist politicians and the government formed by them at all levels can be trusted for an adequate protection of the interest mass the victims of the stampede. It is in the light of this, we demand a democratic committee that will include representatives of working peoples’ organizations like NLC, TUC, NBA, ASUU among others for a transparent compilation of the list of victims with a view to ensure that they are adequately compensated.
The Ibadan tragedy further underscores the need for workers, youth and the poor to be united and organized to consistently resist anti-poor capitalist policies of the government at all levels. This is especially a challenge to the leadership of the mass organisations of working people like NLC and TUC to be alive to their historical responsibility. However, it is important for such a struggle to be linked with the need to enthrone a worker and poor peoples’ government run on the basis of socialism. It is only such a government that can begin to end all of the condition of misery and poverty faced by mass of the working people today. This is by reconstructing the society and planning the economy such that the collective wealth of the society is mobilized and used for the benefits of the vast majority, not the profit greed of a few.
Nigeria Solidarity 