NIGERIA | Defend Democratic Rights – High Commission Protest, London, UK

Описание: REJECT GOVERNMENT INTIMIDATION
SUPPORT ACTION TO DEFEND LIVING STANDARDS

UPDATE: president of Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) arrested at airport on way to address British Trades Union Congress (TUC).
UPDATE: further hike in petrol price fuelling further price increases on basic necessities.

APPEAL FROM YOUTH RIGHTS CAMPAIGN (YRC)
At a time when Nigeria is in deep crisis, currently, fuel becoming unavailable throughout the country, the government of Bola Tinubu is pressing serious charges, including ‘Treason’ and ‘Terrorism’, against organisers and activists of the #EndBadGovernance protests. These were organised at the beginning of August by a broad front of different organisations opposing neo-liberal policies and government corruption.

The president of the Nigeria Labour Congress, the country’s largest trade union federation, has faced police questioning over both “criminal conspiracy, terrorism financing, treasonable felony, subversion, and cybercrime” and “criminal intimidation, malicious damage to property” etc.

Amnesty International has summed-up the process as

“… another round of the government’s unrelenting efforts to punish protesters and demonize protests.”

“Some of the charges to be filed against the protesters, ranging from treason, which carries the death penalty, to allegations of a ‘plan to destabilize Nigeria,’ show how far Nigerian authorities can go in manipulating the criminal justice system to silence critical voices. These are blatantly trumped-up charges that must be immediately withdrawn.”

“These attempts by President Bola Tinubu’s government to charge those who protested against widespread poverty and rampant corruption with treason is beyond absurd and baseless.”

“We condemn these sham trials even before they begin and call for an end to these endless, bizarre attempts to deprive people of the right to peaceful protest. What is going to happen to these protesters — who took to the streets last month seeking good governance — is a disguised exercise solely aimed at punishing dissenters.”

With Nigeria in deep economic, social and political crisis the Tinubu government is determined to suppress opposition and protests, hence its campaign of intimidation. The regime knows it is weak, last year less than 10% of Nigeria’s 93.5 million registered voters voted for Tinubu.

Already suffering from stagnant living standards, insurgencies in different parts of the country and deep-rooted corruption, Nigeria was plunged into deeper crisis when, last year, President Tinubu, newly-elected, launched an unprecedented neo-liberal programme that has undermined living standards. The annual rate of food price inflation is 39.5% while fuel has risen by 460% since Tinubu came to office in May last year. There is mass unemployment and underemployment. The economy is stagnant. Millions survive on a day to day basis. Official figures show that 133 million people live in multidimensional poverty. But billions of dollars of oil and gas revenues have disappeared over recent decades.

The International Trade Union Confederation-Africa (ITUC) explained that when there have been signs of opposition there has been a “heavy-handed response by the government to legitimate and peaceful assembly and protests”. The British TUC has spoken of the Nigerian government seeking “to crush the protests and that the police actions against the NLC are an “intimidation of trade unions”.

The case of Adaramoye Michael (Lenin), the National Coordinator of the Youth Rights Campaign (YRC), a member of the Democratic Socialist Movement (DSM) and one of the key organisers of the #EndBadGovernance protests in Abuja, the federal capital, shows how this regime is operating.

He was arrested at 2am on 5 August at home and held incommunicado with no legal or family visits. Then 17 days later, he, along with 123 others, was remanded in detention for a further sixty days at a secret court hearing at which neither defendants or defence lawyers were present. Michael and his co-defendants were to be charged with “criminal conspiracy, terrorism financing, treasonable felony, cyberstalking and cyberbullying”. Only on 29 August, over three weeks after he was seized, was Micheal able to see a lawyer and then on the following weekend was told he would be formally charged in court on 2 September.

There have already been international protests. Many in Nigeria have condemned the arrests too. Protests need to be stepped-up to help Michael and others. Protests need to demand that the serious, yet ridiculous, court charges against the #EndBadGovernance protest activists are dropped and those detained are immediately released.

It is necessary to support those fighting to defend living standards and democratic rights in Nigeria. The workers’ movement and socialists have an internationalist responsibility to stand in solidarity and support their class brothers and sisters in Nigeria.