NLC and TUC Must Declare a 48-Hour Warning Strike Against Tinubu’s Anti-Poor Policies

PRESS STATEMENT

The Solidarity Network for Workers’ Rights (SNWR) strongly condemns the horrifying abduction of students and teachers in Oriire LGA, Oyo State, and the brutal killing of Mr. Michael Oyedokun, a mathematics teacher reportedly beheaded by abductors while in captivity. We extend our deepest condolences to his family, colleagues, students, and the traumatised communities.

The attack on Community Grammar School, Baptist Nursery and Primary School, and L.A. Primary School is not an isolated breach. It reflects the deepening collapse of security, governance, and social welfare under Nigeria’s capitalist ruling elite. That armed criminals could invade schools, abduct children and teachers, and murder a victim in such a gruesome manner is a national disgrace and an indictment of both federal and state authorities.

Schools should be centres of learning, safety, and hope. Instead, they have become targets for kidnappers and criminal gangs. Parents now send their children to school with fear, especially in rural and semi-rural areas where state presence is weak and security infrastructure is nonexistent.

What makes this more infuriating is the contrast between the suffering of ordinary Nigerians and the political elite’s obsession with power struggles, defections, endorsements, and 2027 election calculations. While families in Oyo mourn, students remain in captivity, and communities live in terror, APC leaders and sections of the ruling establishment are preoccupied with primaries and elite negotiations.

Across the country, office holders mobilise billions for campaigns while insecurity spreads. The ruling elite stage elaborate political gatherings and media spectacles while workers can’t afford food, students can’t study safely, and rural communities are abandoned to armed gangs. This exposes the insensitivity and disconnect of Nigeria’s capitalist politicians from the realities of ordinary people.

The current crisis is not new. It is the product of years of corruption, mass unemployment, poverty, failed public education, collapsing social services, and the neglect of rural communities. In the North and increasingly in other regions, millions of youths face hopelessness and hunger. Public schools are underfunded, industries are dead, agriculture is neglected, and social infrastructure has collapsed. Under these conditions, banditry and violent networks flourish.

Successive APC and PDP governments have promised to tackle insecurity, yet it has worsened year after year. From Zamfara to Kaduna, Katsina to Sokoto, Niger to Plateau, Benue to Borno, and now parts of the South-West including Oyo, Nigerians face endless cycles of kidnappings and killings. Civil society reports show thousands killed or kidnapped in recent years, with entire communities displaced.

The murder of Mr. Michael Oyedokun demands national reflection. Teachers are among Nigeria’s most underpaid and neglected workers, yet they face abduction and death while performing their duty. His killing symbolises how cheap human life has become under the present system.

SNWR rejects the routine pattern of government condemnations without action on the root causes. Nigerians are tired of condolences without concrete steps, of promises never fulfilled, and of officials protected by convoys while ordinary people are left defenceless.

We are also alarmed by the commercialisation and manipulation of Nigeria’s electoral process. The same parties claiming to represent the people turn elections and primaries into contests for moneybags, godfathers, and elite interests. Candidate selection is driven by wealth and loyalty, not competence or commitment to solving social problems. Politics has become an investment scheme for the rich.

Meanwhile, insecurity has become profitable for sections of the ruling class through inflated contracts, corrupt procurement, and unaccounted spending. Despite trillions allocated to security, communities remain vulnerable and security personnel lack equipment and welfare.

*SNWR therefore demands:*

1. Immediate and unconditional rescue of all abducted students and teachers in Oyo State.

2. A transparent, independent investigation into the security lapses behind the attack.

3. Urgent strengthening of security around schools and rural communities nationwide.

4. Massive public investment in education, healthcare, housing, agriculture, and social welfare.

5. Democratic, community-based security initiatives involving residents, workers, and youth organisations under public accountability.

6. Proper welfare, equipment, and democratic oversight for rank-and-file security personnel.

7. Emergency job creation for unemployed youths through public works and industrial development.

8. An end to corruption, inflated contracts, and the looting of public resources by office holders.

SNWR maintains that insecurity cannot be permanently solved under a capitalist system that breeds mass poverty amid enormous wealth. Nigeria is rich in human and natural resources, yet the majority suffer because these resources are controlled by a tiny elite driven by profit.

What is needed is a socialist alternative where the commanding heights of the economy are publicly owned and democratically managed in the interest of workers, youths, and the poor. Only through democratic planning and public control of resources can Nigeria guarantee quality education, jobs, healthcare, infrastructure, and genuine security for all.

We call on workers, students, youths, women, and oppressed Nigerians to unite across ethnic and religious lines to resist insecurity, corruption, and bad governance, and to build a genuine mass political alternative that transforms society for the poor majority.

The bloodshed must end. The suffering of ordinary Nigerians must not be ignored while politicians chase power and privilege.

Signed: 

Lateef Adams

for; Solidarity Network for Workers’ Rights (SNWR)

May 2026