The Nigerian working class and popular layers face unimaginable hardships in their day to day lives. Poverty, unemployment, corruption, inflation eating up their income, almost complete absence of basic public goods and utilities, and the list can go on and on.
In this nightmare situation, the Tinubu government is making matters even worse and is turning to repression in order to force the mass movement to retreat.
In the recent End Bad Governance protests in August, 50 protesters were killed by the police using live bullets. Independent media say that the number of people arrested all over the country has reached 1,000.
Since then, an intimidation campaign has been commenced by the Nigerian government, the police and special forces. This campaign has targeted trade unionists and left-wing activists who are taking part in the movement, but also ordinary people who happened to be at the wrong place at the wrong time.
The police accuse people of plotting to overthrow the government. This is a reflection of their fear that the protests can gain traction and mobilise big parts of the population.
To cite some recent examples of the ongoing wave of repression: Adaramoye Michael Lenin, Adeyemi Abayomi, Mosiu Sodiq, Opaluwa Eleojo, Loveth Angel, and five others were arrested, detained, and arraigned on charges of treasonable felony. On Sunday, during a church service, Akande Daniel was arrested. When the police faced resistance from those present, they claimed it was a murder case. He was handcuffed for a day, and as of the time of writing, he remains in police custody, with authorities refusing to arraign him in court.
Internationalist Standpoint strongly condemns the acts of the Nigerian government which tries to intimidate protesters in view of the Fearless in October mobilisations.
We express our full solidarity to the fighting people of Nigeria in their struggle for a decent life and for democratic and trade union rights.
We believe that a united movement of trade unions, local movements and organisations and ordinary working people can force the government to back down.
We’ll do everything in our power to expose the Nigerian government and defend the rights of the struggling Nigerian workers and youth.
