The Network of Abuja Left Groups, a coalition of Civil Society Organizations, has forcefully condemned President Bola Tinubu’s administration for the arrest of Nigeria Labour Congress President Joe Ajaero and the Department of State Services’ invasion of the SERAP office in Abuja. These actions, which occurred at the Abuja airport, have drawn sharp criticism from the coalition and further fueled concerns about the government’s increasingly authoritarian tactics.
The coalition vehemently denounced the Nigerian government’s alarming and persistent efforts to suppress dissent, citing the ongoing detainment of 10 #EndBadGovernance protesters in Kuje prison. They particularly highlighted the role of security agents in targeting activists and critical voices, emphasizing the need for immediate action to halt this disturbing trend.
This was made known in a joint statement released on Monday where eight organizations, including the Youth Rights Campaign, Revolutionary Socialist Movement, Movement for Socialist Alternative, Committee for the Defence of Human Rights, Civil Rights Council, and Take it Back Movement, unite to express their collective condemnation of the Nigerian government’s actions.
The statement said they would resist the ongoing fascism and repression designed to suffocate the very essence of democracy in Nigeria.
The human rights crusaders said they are determined to not lose sleep and protect the democracy the generations before them fought for with tears and blood.
The statement read “The Network of Abuja Left Groups condemns the clampdown on the rights to protest in Nigeria including the arrest of over 2000 protesters out of which 5 of the 10 protesters arraigned last week are our members, including Michael Tobiloba Adaramoye (aka Lenin), Mosiu Sodiq, Daniel Akande, Adeyemi Abiodun Abayomi (aka Yomi), Comrade Opaluwa Eleojo Simeon, Angel Love Innocent, Buhari Lawal, and others.
“Alongside these arrests, we’ve seen many injuries during the #EndBadGovernance protests and and many attacks on journalists. At least forty people were killed by security agencies during the protests. Presently, operatives of the DSS are laying seige on the office of a civil society organization, SERAP, in Abuja. The recent unjust detention of NLC President Joe Ajaero, has brought all of these attacks to an head and the Nigerian people have been pushed to a wall by the Tinubu regime.
“The violent turn that the Tinubu regime has taken against those who dare to resist its misrule will not go without reply. The regime, facilitated by Justice Emeka Nwite’s disturbing and unjust rulings, continues its assault on those demanding basic dignity and an end to this regime of hunger and insecurity.
“What we witness is the state’s direct criminalisation of dissent in a desperate attempt to maintain power at the expense of the people. Or how else can we describe a regime that equates a call for better governance with treason? How else will we explain the stark contrast that the Kuje prison and other prisons across the country now hold those who should be celebrated for their courage (including minors), while bandits roam free and levy tax on citizens because they have been emboldened by the Tinubu’s regime disregard for true justice.
“We are determined to not lose this democracy that generations before us fought for with tears and blood, and with some of them making the ultimate sacrifice of losing their lives. This continually intensifying repression is not an isolated incident, but a pattern of governance designed to suffocate the very essence of democracy in Nigeria.
“The essence of democracy is to guarantee the dividends of democracy for everyone, which includes guaranteeing their welfare and security. The lives of the working poor, who face exorbitant food prices, spiraling inflation, and a collapsing healthcare system, are treated with disdain, while the ruling class secures its grip with legal intimidation and economic plunder. The recent fuel price hike following acquisition of private jets and yachts by those in government is the height of it all.
“We, the Network of Abuja Left Groups, stand in firm solidarity with our comrades, detained and humiliated for demanding a better Nigeria. The recent arrest of Comrade Joe Ajaero, in particular, reveals that there is a calculated effort by the Tinubu Regime to isolate labor movements, divide the opposition, and enforce a false unity through fear and apathy. We are determined to not let this strategy work.
“This repression by the Nigerian state cannot suppress the rising tide of class consciousness. Our resistance is not only in solidarity with these Comrades and protesters imprisoned but with the collective struggle against oppression and mass misery in Nigeria itself. The irony of labeling these protesters as traitors to the nation shows that Tinubu’s power, that is supposed to be derived from the people, now moves against the people.
“This situation, where those who speak truth to power are punished as criminals, demands a radical rethinking of our societal structure and a revolutionary alternative. We therefore call on the Nigerian masses to see this long and protracted struggle for what it is – a fight for our liberation and our long walk to freedom.
“As we approach the September 11 court date, we urge the judiciary, and its organizations like NJC, NBA, JUSUN, to remember that its foundational role is to uphold justice, and not to be an instrument of political suppression. We demand the immediate release of all detained comrades and an end to the criminalisation of dissent.
“The moral and material crises facing Nigeria are too severe to be met with silence, and no sane government should expect silence from the Nigerian people. Beyond September 11, we urge all Nigerians to troop into the streets to protest these policies that have thrown us all in poverty and thrown our Comrades in prison.”
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