Demands immediate release
of Sowore and other detained activists and journalists
Press Statement
The Socialist Party Nigeria (SPN) strongly condemns the
judicial contrivance of the federal government obtained through an order of the
Federal High Court to detain Omoyele Sowore for another 45 days. We restate our
demand for immediate and unconditional release of Omoyele Sowore as well as all
detained activists and journalists.
We call for an immediate meeting of civil society organizations,
trade unions and pro-working class organizations and political parties to
discuss the next step in the campaign to fight for the release of Omoyele
Sowore and other detained activists and journalists as well as how to build the
struggle to begin to challenge the anti-poor policies of the Buhari regime.
Sowore’s arrest and subsequent detention are predicated
on a trumped up charge of terrorism. The DSS, which arrested Sowore, approached
the federal high court for an ex parte order to investigate its allegation of terrorism
against Sowore, while he is behind bars. The DSS proved by this action that it
has no substantial material evidence to arrest Sowore in the first place; and
that his arrest was designed to foil the August 5 protest or subsequent ones
against the maladministration of the Buhari’s regime. This is a completely
anti-democratic action, which has torn to shred any façade of democracy this
regime hides behind.
We are not surprised in the SPN that the Nigerian courts
have wittingly or unwittingly joined this grand contrivance of the state to
smother democratic rights. In the final analysis, the capitalist court is not
the last hope of the common person. Rather, just like the police and army, the
judiciary is an institution for the defense of capitalist class interests. The
culture of employing ex parte orders to deny the fundamental human rights of
Nigerian citizens is disquieting; beginning with the designation of IPOB and Shi’ites
as terrorist organizations, and now Omoyele Sowore. These developments are
anti-democratic and condemnable. The government of President Muhammadu Buhari,
despite failing the masses of this country, whose household economy has
consistently nosedived since 2015, is intolerant of dissents.
We call on civil right lawyers to challenge this ex parte
order at higher court and also challenge the constitutionality of the terrorism
act, which has become a legal instrument to suppress fundamental rights, in court.
This legal action must be held side by side with a series of mass actions
including peaceful protests against the growing brazen attack on democratic
rights.
Despite our criticism of the call for #RevolutionNow which
represents in our view an attempt by a minority to carry out a revolution which
is an action that can only be carried out by the mass of the working people, the
August 5 protest is a clear indication of the burning anger and temper of the long-suffering
working masses and the youth against the poverty-inducing policies of the Buhari/APC
administration. It is for this reason that we again urge the NLC, TUC and the
ULC to provide leadership for the mass of workers, youth and poor masses by
declaring a one-day general strike and mass protest to demand immediate
implementation of the N30, 000 national minimum wage for all public and private
sector workers without retrenchment, decent employment for all, an end to all
anti-poor policies of privatization, commercialization and deregulation.
We recognize that finally, the NLC has issued a public
statement condemning the arrest of Sowore and the attack on protesters. This is
an improvement on the statement the NLC issued on Saturday 3rd
August 2019 where it distanced itself from the August 5 protest. We applaud
this change of course by the NLC and urge that this is deepened by the labour
movement boldly putting itself at the head of a mass struggle to begin to
challenge all capitalist anti-poor policies and build a political alternative
to end capitalism and enthrone a workers-led government armed with socialist
policies.
Abiodun Bamigboye
Acting National
Chairperson
Chinedu Bosah
National Secretary
No comments:
Post a Comment