Statement from Movement for a Socialist Alternative (Nigeria), Socialist Alternative (England, Wales & Scotland) and the Nigeria Solidarity Campaign

Nigerian President Bola Tinubu’s visit to the UK to meet King Charles III is the first official visit by a Nigerian head of state since 1989, when Elizabeth II met with the dictator Ibrahim Babangida. Yet, despite this meeting occurring between two nominally ‘democratic’ regimes, the reality is much different. It comes at a time where Tinubu is increasing repression and the centralisation of power around himself in Nigeria. And of course, in Britain the continued existence of the hereditary monarchy acts as a sword of Damocles over any ‘democratic’ government.

The meeting is a festival of distraction from each side’s domestic woes. It is ironic, then, the meeting will in part take place in Windsor – previously home to the disgraced rapist, pedophile and former Prince Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor.

The fact a friendship is developing is almost natural, based on the old principle of honour among thieves, just as it was in 1989. It is a coming together of two thoroughly corrupt regimes who sit atop their respective countries. Both these regimes act as parasites sponging off the toil of the working and poor masses, seeking to legitimise themselves through dealings with each other.
It is unbelievable that President Tinubu would embark on this trip in the wake of the killing of around23 people and injuries to over 100 others by a suicide bombing in Maiduguri, in the northern part of Nigeria. The Tinubu government has clearly remained unbothered by the high level of insecurity in the country.

Within just a week, there have been reports indicating that Boko Haram invaded two military bases, with several security operatives killed in different parts of the country, which reflects the worsening security situation. With these crises, coupled with the skyrocketing price of petrol, this visit will not serve the interests of the working people – it is purely for the benefit of the capitalist ruling elite.

Most notably, in recent months, President Tinubu has embarked on a number of foreign trips, including visits to France, the United Arab Emirates, India, Germany, Saudi Arabia and Qatar, among others. These trips are presented as a game-changer that will attract foreign investment. However, this has led many Nigerians to question their impact on the country, especially as the living conditions of working people and the security situation continue to worsen.

A country with abundant resources like Nigeria should instead prioritise substantial investment in public welfare and security, rather than the misuse of public resources through excessive spending on large entourages, capital flights, and ventures across the world.

Given that Nigeria was once directly under the British imperial boot until gaining independence in 1960, its facade can seem very shiny. But Nigeria today, though technically independent, is still strangled by a neocolonial relationship with countries like Britain.

Nigeria is a country of 200 million people. 90 million of those have never had electricity. British oil companies collude with the British and Nigerian governments in a massive looting scheme of the entire country. Despite Nigeria being a country rich in oil resources, it has historically been a net fuel importer – the eighth largest in the world as of 2025.

Nigeria exported over £1.3 billion in crude oil from Nigeria to Britain alone in the 2024-25 fiscal year. When the fuel comes back refined, it is at astronomical price hikes that leave the Nigerian masses dealing with immense shortages. All the while foreign oil companies and their stooges like Tinubu – a former Mobil executive himself – massively profit.

It has been estimated that, since Tinubu’s 2023 removal of the fuel subsidy, the year-on-year net profits of the four biggest Nigerian oil marketers have increased by almost 150%. Meanwhile inflation has spiked and the value of the Nigerian naira has plummeted. This is just part of the consequences of the neocolonial relationship, driving the masses into even further poverty.

The current visit’s goals include more British investment in Nigeria. But this will not change the exploitative equation between imperialism and Nigeria or between the elites and the masses in Nigeria itself. Nor do either side wish to do so; in fact the opposite.

By warmly greeting Tinubu – an oppressor and exploiter of the working masses in Nigeria – the monarchy exposes its own rottenness and contempt for British and Nigerian workers, including the almost 300,000 Nigerians living in the UK. From an institution which has been increasingly exposed over the past period for its blatant racism, its cover-ups for sexual abuse and pedophilia and that siphons off millions of pounds in public funds for just existing, this is hardly surprising. Capitalism and imperialism do not care about the masses – only about profits.

That is why Movement for a Socialist Alternative, Socialist Alternative and the Nigeria Solidarity Campaign have issued this joint statement. We believe that such an arrangement should not exist. In Britain, the monarchy must be abolished. In Nigeria, the reactionary regime of Tinubu must be thrown out. But that will not be enough, each will only be replaced by new faces for capitalist and imperialist exploitation.

The working class around the world must link the struggle for democratic rights to the question of the overturning of global capitalism itself. Only in a socialist world, based on the democratic control and management of resources and society by the working masses can this exploitation be overturned. That is why we are issuing this internationalist statement.