By
SPN Reporters
The
Osun State chapter of the Socialist Party of Nigeria (SPN) held a Political
Retreat on Saturday, 27th December, in Osogbo, to evaluate the political
development as the 2015 elections approach.
Leading
discussion at the meeting was Segun Sango, National Chairperson of the SPN. He
outlined the fact that there is no basis for the vast mass of Nigerians to be
poor in the midst of the country's inexhaustible wealth and huge human
resources. He maintained that there is nothing the ruling government of Goodluck
Jonathan/PDP can offer the working and poor people. He stated that despite the
unprecedented oil wealth the country has amassed in the last ten years, the
ruling elites are so parasitic that they cannot develop new sources of wealth
for the country, such that now the fluctuation of oil price in the
international market has plunged the economy in deeper crisis. He also opined
that, in spite of the growing quest for change from the vicious cycle that
Jonathan government represents, expecting the opposition gathered in the All
Progressives Congress (APC) and symbolized by Muhammadu Buhari to provide the
way out is clearly misplaced.
He
maintained that the growing political confusion will not last, as people will
come out of the current situation more enlightened. He posited that the current
failure of 22 state governments, including opposition controlled state
governments, to pay workers' salaries for months, shows the bankruptcy of the
policies of the ruling elite. He cited the example of Osun State, where the
Aregbesola government owes workers three month salaries, as a reflection of the
terrible character of the opposition. He reminded the gathering that it was
Buhari/Idiagbon military government that stopped the cafeteria system, and
tried to commercialize education, if not for 1984 mass movement of students led
by the Lanre Arogundade-led NANS. Besides, the model of APC is the Fashola
government in Lagos state which was forced by the struggle of students and
workers as well as the fear of defeat in the 2015 general elections to reverse
the outrageous fees as high as N300,000 imposed at the Lagos State University.
He urged comrades and advanced layer of the working people, not to be despair
but consolidate the little forces that we have and prepare for the big days.
In
his intervention, Alfred Adegoke, the Osun state chair of the SPN, highlighted
various crimes of the Buhari/Idiagbon military regime. This is necessary,
especially now that many people are trying to whitewash the regime and Buhari's
image. He warned that trying to obliterate history in an attempt to support a
candidate can be catastrophic. However, he maintained that this is not at all a
pass mark for the Jonathan/PDP-led government, which is leading the country to
a blind alley. He maintained that the 'track' record of the two contending
candidates in the 2015 election shows that what Nigerians actually need is not
some 'heroes', but to take the destiny in their own hands.
Contributing
to the discussion, Hassan Taiwo Soweto, the National Youth Leader of the SPN,
emphasized on the horrible prospect that the falling oil price portend for
Nigerians. He underscored the inability of the ruling class to move the country
forward. Waxing biblical, he stated that, if Nigerians did not gain anything
during the seven years of abundance, things can only get worse during the years
of want. Already, capital vote in the 2015 federal budget proposal has been
reduced from over N1 trillion to around N600 billion. This means that even
little projects being carried out by the government are going to be abandoned.
He posited that despite all the theories of naira decoupling and more spending
being propounded by the leading lights of the opposition APC like Bola Tinubu,
inasmuch as the economy is still controlled by the big capitalist fat cats, who
bankroll both APC and PDP, there cannot be a way out.
Kola
Ibrahim, the Osun State Secretary of SPN and moderator of the meeting, also
highlighted the challenge of building a revolutionary cadre-ship to sustain the
forces of genuine change. He maintained, despite the prevailing political
confusion and desperation by many Nigerians for any change, there are still
many Nigerians, including workers, students, youths, who are looking for a
genuine alternative.
He
maintained that irrespective of which party wins the presidential election, an
austerity regime will prevail as the so-called opposition has no alternative
programmes and policies outside Nigeria's crude brand of capitalism. He posited
that the failure of opposition-controlled state governments to develop their
economies and ensure a productive economy shows that, nationally they cannot
move the country forward. He stated most of the opposition state governments
only rely on extortionate taxes and huge, unsustainable debts to run the
states. Moreover, just like the PDP government, most state governments are
governments of contractors and moneybag politicians. He stated that, just like
the Jonathan government was confronted with mass revolt in January 2012, six
months after securing a mandate to rule, a new government, sooner than later,
will be challenged by mass movement of the working and poor people against
austerity and capitalism. He stated that the challenge is for us to start to
build programmes and perspective to meet the coming period.
The
meeting then went on to agree that the coming period towards elections should
mean the SPN raising programmatic demands that will mobilize the more advanced
layer among the working class, and prepare for the coming struggle after the
election. The meeting also discussed practical programmes for the SPN in Osun
State in the coming period, especially the task of mobilizing working and poor
people against the anti-poor policies of the Aregbesola government.
Fourteen
(14) persons attended the meeting, which was very qualitative. N2, 800 was
realized as fighting fund, while three copies of the Socialist Democracy, the
paper of the Democratic Socialist Movement (DSM) were sold at the meeting. The
meeting ended around 3.30 p.m. with solidarity songs and photo session. With
the inspiration gained from this meeting, members of SPN in Osun State are
prepared to organize more public and political programmes to reach out to the
mass of workers, youth and the poor, as 2015 elections approach.
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