By Patrick Obia
The Joint Action Front (JAF) has condemned in entirety the attacks, harassment and arrest of peaceful protesters during the #EndBadGovernance nationwide protest against hardship.
Dr. Oladipo Fashina, JAF Chairperson and Secretary, Comrade Abiodun Aremu, disclosed this in a statement in Lagos on Monday, where they both lashed out on Nigeria security forces who also raided the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) House.
He said according to media reports, at least 40 protesters were killed by security agencies across the country during the protest. He demands for justice and adequate compensation for their families, adding that nobody deserves to be killed for upholding their fundamental rights to peaceful protest, and while holding President Tinubu’s regime responsible for the killing, JAF demands the resignation of the Inspector General of Police and prosecution of police officers who pulled the triggers.
Dr. Oladipo averred that though the protest might have ended on August 10, but the struggle for a better Nigeria continues, calling on Nigerians to keep the fire burning in pressing for their rights and dividends of democracy.
The statement reads below:
1. The Joint Action Front (JAF) condemns and took serious note of the vicious attacks on democratic rights by security agencies at the behest of Bola Tinubu government as its response to the nationwide protest tagged #EndBadGovernaceinNigeria that hit the streets from August 1 to August 10, to reject the anti-poor capitalist policies which are responsible for mass suffering and economic hardship and call for their total reversal!
2. One of the most reprehensible acts of the Tinubu’s despotic regime in its package of repressive measures that are reminiscent of what obtained in the dark era of military dictatorship was the Gestapo-style invasion of Labour House, the National Secretariat of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), by the security operatives on Wednesday August 7. The security operatives raided a bookshop in the building, carted away all the books and other materials found in the facility.
3. JAF holds that the irrational justification offered by the Police for the attack, who have shamelessly owned up to the operation, is a mere smokescreen. We consider it ridiculous to suggest that a foreigner whom the Police claimed they went to look for at Labour House, not the anti-poor policies and brazenly corrupt conducts of the Tinubu regime, is responsible for a nationwide protest.
4. Earlier in the week on August 5, 2024, the security operatives from the National Intelligence Agency, reportedly on the order of Nuhu Ribadu, Tinubu’s National Security Adviser, had raided on an apartment in Apo Abuja in the wee hours to abduct Adaramoye Michael (Michael Lenin), Babatunde Oluajo (Sankara) and Mosiu Adigun in connection with the #EndBadGovernanceinNigeria protest. Michael Lenin is the National Coordinator of Youth Rights Campaign (YRC) and one of the organizers of the nationwide protest in Abuja.
5. While Babatunde Oluajo has been released after four days in detention, Michael Lenin and Mosiu Adigun are still held incommunicado at the facility of a special police unit called the Intelligence Response Team (IRT) in Abuja. Also secretly detained at the facility is Eleojo Opaluwa, a trade union officer with the National Union of Electricity Employees (NUEE). He was picked on a ridiculous, trumped-up allegation that he is one of the sponsors of the nationwide protests. Also, on Saturday August 10 in Akure Ondo State, Kunle Ajayi Wizeman, a leading member of Take it Back Movement was arrested along with nine others during a peaceful protest.
6. We demand the immediate and unconditional release of Micheal Lenin, Mosiu Adigun, Eleojo Opaluwa, Kunle Wizeman and hundreds of others who have been unjustly arrested across the country over the nationwide protests.
7. Sadly, according to media reports, at least 40 protesters have been murdered by security agencies across the country. We demand justice and adequate compensation for their families. Nobody deserves to be killed for upholding their fundamental rights to peaceful protest. While we hold the Tinubu regime responsible for the killing, we demand the resignation of the Inspector General of Police and prosecution of police officers who pulled the triggers.
8. Also importantly, we commend Nigerian youth and working people who refused to be cowed and intimidated by the atmosphere of terror imposed by the Tinubu regime before and during the nationwide protests but stormed the streets across the country. However, while #EndBadGovernanceinNigeria protest is expected to have officially concluded on Saturday August 10, we urge the protesters to realize that the struggle is not over yet but just beginning! The nationwide protests that held between August 1 and August 10 should be seen only as the first phase in a protracted struggle to compel the Tinubu regime to respect the demands of the protests. Therefore, we call on the organizers of the protests nationwide to initiate a national meeting where the next phase of the struggle will be democratically discussed and decided to move struggle forward.
9. More importantly to state is that while struggle can force out some concession from the Tinubu regime, it is not possible to end bad governance within the confines of capitalist exploitation, especially in a neo-colonial country with primitive ruling elite and which is under the domination of the imperialist USA, Europe and multinationals So, for us in JAF working people and youth must be prepared for a total fight for SYSTEM CHANGE in order to actualize the goal of ending bad governance.
10. By system change we mean: Nigeria is rich. The wealth belongs to the people. Most Nigerians are hungry, have no jobs, no education, no healthcare, no potable water, no electricity supply and no affordable transportation. Most cannot feed their families or educate their children. Those who are lucky to have jobs are not much different. They also cannot afford a decent living for their families. On the other hand, there is a very tiny group of Nigerians who have cornered the wealth that belongs to the working people and the poor, who are in the majority. They loot the treasury and use their stolen wealth to sustain themselves in power through their political parties. They use their power to get richer and richer when the poor get poorer and poorer. This is the system of exploitation and oppression.
It is the system that brings out the army and the police to kill poor people when they protest against oppression and exploitation. We want to change that system and replace it with a system where the working people and the millions of people who are suffering under the system of exploitation will win power and ensure that the wealth of Nigeria is used to ensure a good life for the majority of the people who are now exploited and oppressed. This is what we mean by system change.
System change is not replacing one exploiter’s government by another exploiter’s government. It is replacing an exploiter’s government by a people’s government to reorganize Nigeria and put an end to oppression and exploitation. This is what JAF stands for. The people’s government can only be brought about by a political party of the working people and the poor that will be committed to ending the policies of privatization and deregulation and looting and exploitation by the class of exploiters and looters and ensure that the wealth of our country is judiciously used to benefit ALL.
Re-issued by the JAF Secretariat for Mass Protest, August 1st -10th, 2024. Forward Ever, Backward Never!
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