• It’s Time For A Collective Mass Action Against Insecurity & The Failed Buhari Regime!

Daniel Akande

It is no news that in Nigeria today, the basic Right to Life has been subverted as every Nigerian life is under constant threat and fear of attack or being killed.

On the 10th of December, 2021, the media widely reported a protest organized by a Coalition of Concerned Northern Nigerian Groups to raise the issue of insecurity in the North and other parts of the country.

In that report, “the protesters said they were agitated by the recent escalation of attacks and killings across Northern Nigerian communities, cities, towns, and highways, adding that the situation has put the region at the mercy of bandits.”

Of course, no place is safe in current Nigeria, as there are unending reports every other day of either kidnapping, killing, rape, herdsmen/ attacks, etc.

One of the most shocking references made by the group was the “gruesome killing of over 40 bus passengers at Gidan Bawa village in Sokoto State where bandits blocked the road and set the vehicle ablaze and occupants ablaze.” The above quote is gruesome and it exposes the level of insecurity and barbarity going on in Nigeria.

The truth however is that there is “no safe haven” anywhere in Nigeria, and we can openly conclude that the Buhari regime has completely failed since the Nigerian security system is under its direct watch.

Nothing fundamental has happened under Buhari to either tinker with the exploitative capitalist system that enables the ruling class and big businesses to perpetually feed on the wealth of the society; while condemning the working masses to live in abject poverty without any hope for a better future. If anything, the poverty gap has grown, resulting in the widest break of order to order since the civil war of 50 years ago.

The Movement for a Socialist Alternative (MSA) expresses its displeasure over the ineffective response by the Buhari regime to these spades of kidnapping and killing that is going on in Abuja, Kano, and Kaduna, and the threat to human life in numbers of communities in every part of Nigeria, depicting the sign of a looming catastrophe.

Hence, there is a need for urgent action and gross intervention from all the left organizations in Nigeria. The MSA unequivocally also condemns the attack and tons of threats, which was mounted on the leadership of the protest organized by the Coalition of Concerned Northern Nigerian Groups by the state repressive agents.

Indeed not only the north is bleeding, but Nigeria is also bleeding! Boiling and ticking requiring only a little spark to ignite it to explode. There is a need for our collective and organized actions as workers, youth, and the oppressed working people to struggle and demand an end to the killings and abuses on our Right to Life.

Above all is the ultimate task of challenging the capitalist system, which is the root of the deepening crises, mass unemployment, poor underfunding of agriculture, collapsed health facilities, growing illiteracy, etc.

Without missing words, what is clear at this juncture is that the police, DSS, and other security agencies in Nigerian are practically so organized to defend and protect the political and economic interests of the looting politicians, the ruling class, big bosses, and defend the capitalist system.

Aside from this, the security agencies in most cases are helpless, with gross underfunding, looting of allocated funds by the command hierarchy, misuse and abuse of security agencies by the ruling elites, and refusal to pay already budget allowances for all the special duties they perform.

Worse all, no special arrangement for the children and families of rank and file officers killed in the line of duty, poor monthly remuneration, and of course; the quantum looting of the security votes at the state and local government levels, and as such condemning the rank and file of the army, navy, air force, and police to an uninspiring working and depreciating living conditions.

This is the background that has rendered our entire security architecture ineffective, meaning that Nigerians are virtually in a state of ‘On Your Own’ when it comes to securing their lives and properties.

This is why it is easier for Police and DSS to use maximum force on citizens exercising their rights peacefully than fighting criminals. We hereby throw our total support behind these young Nigerians who are peacefully demanding action from the Buhari regime and Northern Governors on the question of protecting lives and property and as well as improving the social welfare of people in the North and Nigeria at large.

Regrettably, it is the lack of the coordinated response from a central labour leadership, which is ideologically anti-capitalist, strong, and vibrant in organizing and mobilizing the mass of the unsecured and oppressed strata; in demanding maximum security from the government and mobilizing people in a united struggle against the system; that put these protesters at the mercy of the state and those perpetrating the killings, rape, and kidnapping in the country.

Given the absence of fighting labour leadership, the working masses and their organizations must independently seek to build a mass party of the working-class, poor farmers, the youth, and all other oppressed Nigerians in our society, to wrestle political power from the capitalist politicians and dislodge this bankrupt, backward and corrupt ruling class, currently led by the Buhari’s regime.

Therefore, have it replaced by a Working People’s government anchored on a socialist programme that the commanding heights of the economy will be under the democratic control and management of the working class and the poor farmers. This is the only way that the resources of Nigeria can be used in providing maximum security of lives and properties for everyone.