PRESS STATEMENT

June 2025 marks 32 years since Nigeria’s working people and oppressed masses heroically rose up against military dictatorship in response to the annulment of the June 12, 1993, presidential election. That uprising was not simply about restoring a stolen mandate; it was a mass revolt against decades of dictatorship, corruption, and economic suffering.

Yet, 32 years later—and 26 years since the return to civilian rule under this so-called Fourth Republic—the core demands of the June 12 struggle remain unfulfilled. What has been handed to the people is not genuine democracy, but a bourgeois arrangement that serves the interests of the elite, multinational corporations, and foreign creditors, while leaving the majority in deepening poverty.

Today, the Nigerian working class still yearns for a truly democratic system—one that puts the needs of the masses over the profits of the few. A system where political power is not concentrated in the hands of corrupt politicians and capitalists, but one rooted in mass participation, social justice, and economic equality.

The Movement for a Socialist Alternative (MSA) strongly condemns the increasingly repressive and anti-poor character of the Bola Ahmed Tinubu-led regime, which continues to deepen the hardship and suffering of millions of Nigerians under the guise of economic reforms.

From his very first day in office, Tinubu brazenly declared that “the era of fuel subsidy is gone”—a pronouncement that triggered one of the most aggressive cost-of-living crises in Nigeria’s recent history. This reckless hike in fuel prices carried out without any concrete plan to protect the poor and working people, led to an overnight surge in transport and food prices. Instead of investing in local refining capacity or tackling the corruption that has plagued the subsidy system for decades, the regime chose to shift the burden entirely onto ordinary Nigerians.

To make matters worse, the Tinubu regime proceeded to devalue the naira under the guise of unifying the exchange rate. In reality, this policy opened the floodgates for speculative profiteering by the wealthy, while making life even more unbearable for the masses. The costs of basic goods, medicines, education, and imported food items have all skyrocketed—while workers’ wages remain stagnant or unpaid. These so-called “economic reforms” amount to a full-blown assault on the working class, dictated by international financial institutions like the IMF and World Bank.

Meanwhile, education is increasingly being commercialized. The much-touted student loan scheme, far from providing genuine access to quality education, is a debt trap designed to plunge millions of young Nigerians into financial bondage—mirroring a failed American model. What the country needs is free and quality education funded through public resources, not a capitalist agenda that turns students into lifelong debtors.

Despite claiming to uphold democracy, the Tinubu government rules like a civilian dictatorship. Peaceful protesters in August 2024 were brutally attacked, arrested, and charged with terrorism for simply demanding economic justice. Workers, students, and the oppressed are met with tear gas, police batons, and trumped-up charges whenever they raise their voices. This is not democracy—it is tyranny wrapped in the rhetoric of reform.

The recent summoning of our Secretary General, Comrade Dagga Tolar, and some others by the Lagos State Police Command—under the pretence of an “interactive session”—further exposes the state’s desperation to silence dissent. The unserious and suspicious handling of the invitation, including abrupt rescheduling and absent officers, reveals a clear intention to harass and intimidate a key figure in the growing resistance against capitalist exploitation.

But let it be known: we are not deterred. The MSA will continue to speak truth to power and to organize working people against this unjust system.

We say:

• No, to fuel price hikes without a working-class alternative!
• No to anti-people policies of currency devaluation that punish the poor!
• No to debt-trap education schemes like NELFund!
• No to the repression of peaceful protest and dissent!
• No to democracy that serves only the rich!
• Yes to working-class action to build a mass workers’ party rooted in socialist ideas!

What Nigeria needs is not another elite-led, corrupt regime pretending to be democratic. What we need is a workers’ democracy, where the wealth and resources of the nation are collectively owned and democratically managed by workers, farmers, and the poor. We need a Socialist Nigeria—a society built on justice, equality, solidarity, and democratic control from below.

As we mark June 12th, a historic day of struggle, we call on all workers, youths, students, and oppressed people to rise. Let us reclaim the spirit of the original June 12 movement—not for the sake of elections, but for genuine democracy that puts people over profit.

Forward to June 12th Mass Action!

Forward to Workers’ Democracy!

Down with the Tinubu Regime of Exploitation and Repression!

For a Socialist Nigeria Now!

Signed,

Movement for a Socialist Alternative (MSA)

12th June 2025.