We Condemn the killing of Kolade Johnson & others in same manner by police

We of the Socialist Party of Nigeria condemn in strictest terms the gruesome killing

of Kolade Johnson at Onipetesi near Ikeja, Lagos State by police officers attached to the Special Anti-robbery Squad of the Nigerian Police Force. This one case too many of police brutality in Lagos State and Nigeria in general.

We call for the prosecution of the killer cops. We are aware of the statement credited to the Commissioner of Police, Lagos State, wherein he asserted that the killer cops have been dismissed. 

This only amounts to scratching the surface. The daily cases of police brutality require the building of a rolling mass movement across the communities in Lagos State to push for Democratic control of the Nigerian Police Force by elected representatives of the communities.

It is in this light we welcome the ongoing #endSARS mass protests in Lagos State and across Nigeria to demand #justicefor Kolade. We are of the view that the growing mass revolt must not limit it's demand to #endSARS but in a broad sense, #endpolicebrutality. We must also demand the right of rank and file police officers to a trade unions of their own through which they can push for increased wages and better welfare conditions instead of resorting to extortion and police brutality.

The reality is that while the rank and file of the police are over-worked and under-paid , the top brass misappropriates the hefty yearly police budget. A trade union of rank and file police officers would act as means of galvanizing them into struggle for better working  and living conditions.

At the background of police brutality is the dysfunctional anti-poor and pro-rich socio-economic situation with looming neo-liberal attacks on the horizon. The local capitalist ruling elite is under pressure by their Bretton Woods schoolmasters, the International Monetary Fund and World Bank to increase Value Added Tax and remove fuel subsidy as a condition for the implementation of the N30,000 minimum wage. The labour movement must rise to the occasion and be in the fore of the growing mass movement against police brutality and other planned neo-liberal attacks.

The upcoming May Day must be utilised to send a serious warning to the entire ruling to comply with the agitations of the labour centres to commence unconditional implementation of the N30,000 minimum wage without further delay. The labour movement must issue a 21 days ultimatum on both the Federal and State Governments to pay the N30,000 to lapse by May Day , failing which a 48 hour general strike would be declared.

We renew our call on the labour movement to build a genuine mass working people's political alternative. The major lesson of the 2019 general election in which the Socialist Party of Nigeria stood candidates and got an hearing for it's socialist programme is the fact that the only missing factor in the class struggle in Nigeria today is a mass working people's political alternative. 

We call on everyone who voted the Socialist Party of Nigeria in the last election and those struggling on the streets against police brutality to join the Socialist Party of Nigeria as a  step towards building a mass working people's political alternative.

RUFUS OLUSESAN

Chairman

MONSURU SOYOMBO

Publicity Secretary