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Jacques Diriclet
From March 25 to 28, “the people’s summit for a political alternative” was held. Delegates from 23 political, trade union and civil rights organizations and movements took part. (1)
The main decision was to form the “People’s Alternative Political Movement” (TPAP-M) whose objective is to build “a mass workers party for the socialist transformation of Nigeria”.
It is a coalition of organizations formed around TPAP-M which organized on May 31 a national day of mobilization against insecurity, poverty, unemployment and misery: “we call on our people to take their destiny in hand. and to embark on a series of mass actions, the immediate aim of which is to compel an incompetent and irresponsible government and ruling class to fulfill their constitutional duty to protect citizens, and to secure the person, property and means of subsistence of the population. “
Country sinks into chaos, government increasingly rejected
600 civilians killed in April, the increase in kidnappings for ransom by bandits, mass abductions by bandits, the increase in killings in the oil zone of the Niger River Delta, involving the army, these are questions which beset the whole people.
“The president has shown that he is unable to protect human lives.” (2) This is an increasingly shared feeling. Part of the parliamentary opposition has called for his resignation, while doubt is explicitly installed in the majority.
Last October, young people rose up en masse to demand the dissolution of the Special Antirobbery Squad (SARS), a police force with a real license to kill from the authorities. Popular demonstrations against hunger, caused in particular by the containment and curfew measures as well as against the diversion of food aid have also taken place. The demand for Buhari’s resignation began to be taken up in these movements.
The economic situation has worsened further and the IMF is advancing its “remedy”: a devaluation of the currency, which everyone knows would cause inflation to jump, which would further impoverish the population. For the moment the government has not accepted: until when?
Build a class party
It is in this context that the decision to build a workers’ party was taken. In the resolutions adopted at the summit we read: “the class struggle is central and is the key to resolving the major contradictions in our society. (…) From the fight for socialism stems that our movement (…) will work to reverse the program of privatization of the ruling class, and to recover all the assets of public enterprises that have been privatized ”
The question of power is addressed as follows: “The exploitation of the mass of workers or working people can end only if the exploited with their allies take political power from the hands of the exploiting class and its allies by all means required. A political organization is necessary for this task which is before TPAP-M. “
TPAP-M also denounces the government’s submission to imperialism: “Today, the leaders of Nigeria have created, in collaboration with their masters and main partners, capitalist powers of the United States, Europe and Asia, a Nigeria where the production and control of the wealth that belongs to the people, the majority, has served a class of exploiters: Nigerian and foreign businessmen and women. “
The movement has established a provisional leadership and has given itself three months to expand its base to include other forces. It aims to “intervene regularly in the daily struggles of the popular masses across the country. “
National day of mobilization on May 31
During the summit it was estimated that “ethno-religious groups” constitute an “existential challenge posed to the country and its peoples”
This is how the decision was taken to organize a national day of mobilization on May 31, a day which resulted in demonstrations and gatherings in the main cities of the country. For TPAP-M: “These multiple crises whose devastating impact is measured by tens of millions of people without jobs, without shelter, without hope and going to bed hungry; as well as by the thousands of our compatriots kidnapped for ransom, by the tens of thousands killed and maimed, by the millions of displaced persons and by the tens of millions whose livelihoods and jobs have been and are being destroyed daily, because of the greed of the rampaging hordes of criminal gangs and armed insurgents. “
The demands expressed in the protests were numerous: “We demand the supply of uninterrupted electricity”, “Operate the national refineries”, “End banditry and kidnappings now” … And also in the direction of Buhari: “Secure Nigerians’ lives or resign”.
In the capital Abuja, the police intervened violently, injuring a movement leader with tear gas at point blank range. TPAP-M replied: We will not stop acting for the sole purpose of the well-being and safety of the people.
(1) Among the participating organizations: Alliance on Surviving Covid-19 and Beyond (ASCAB), Trade Union Congress of Nigeria (TUC), National Union of Allied Health Professionals (NUAHP), Federation of Informal Workers of Nigeria (FIWON), Socialist Party of Nigeria (SPN), Socialist Workers and Youth League (SWL), Joint Action Front, Socialist Labour, Civil Rights Council (CRC), Social Accountability and Environmental Sustainability Initiative (SAESI), youth organizations.