SPN Calls
for democratic controlled armed multi-ethnic and multi-religious defence
committees in communities
NLC, TUC
and ULC must launch a national campaign on high spate of insecurity and social
issues like education, health and jobs
Press
Statement
The
Socialist Party of Nigeria (SPN) acknowledges the failure of Buhari government
through the police, military and other security agencies to tackle the high
spate of insecurity like banditry, kidnapping, armed robbery, social conflicts
like that between farmers and herders etc. across the country in addition to
Boko Haram insurgency in the North East. We therefore support any genuine
independent democratic mass effort or measure to protect lives and property in
the face of the failure of the government.
We hold
that the Western Nigerian Security Network popularly called Amotekun operation,
recently launched by the six governors of Southwest Nigeria, as presently
conceptualized and constituted will do more harm than good. While there is no
yet any official framework and policy document in the public domain, the
popular narrative on Amotekun, both in the main media and social media, frames
it as a Yoruba ethnic militia. This suggests that the activities of Amotekun
could be divisive in the region. Even though the south-western region is
predominated by Yoruba people, the fact remains that there is a considerable
number of residents who are of other ethnic extractions. . Furthermore the
perception of Amotekun as a Yoruba militia risks provoking further ethnic
tension.
The masses,
who share common oppression and exploitation by the capitalist ruling elite
irrespective of ethnic origin, should not support any activity or policy that
will divide them along ethnic or religious line, something which could weaken
their capacity for needed united struggles for better conditions.
Besides,
the outfit is not subject to democratic control of the working people and
communities. Rather it is under the control of anti-poor capitalist governors
of the APC and PDP. The record of these leaders leaves no one in doubt that
they are as much guilty of the crime of implementing pro-capitalist policies as
the Buhari-led Federal government that worsen the desperate conditions of the
working masses and youth which is largely responsible for the alarming problem
of insecurity across the country. At the moment, all the governors of the six
states of the Southwest are guilty of undemocratically violating the autonomy
of the local governments despite extant Supreme Court judgment and other legal
instruments. So when these gentlemen mount the rostrum to shout to high heavens
the need for the so-called true federalism, we of the Socialist Party of
Nigeria (SPN) cannot but ask them to dare come to equity only if they are sure
they have got clean hands in their own states.
While we of
the SPN do not rule out the possibility that Amatekun may fight some crimes, we
strongly believe that in the absence of mass democratic control, its operation
and activities will sooner or later constitute a threat to democratic rights
and human dignity of the ordinary people including extortion, extra-judicial
killing, election rigging, attacking opposition figures, etc as obtains with
the police, DSS and other security agencies. The history of the Odua People's
Congress (OPC, which despite vaunted objectives to combat insecurity,
eventually became a terror gang against ordinary people in general and people
from other ethnic groups residing in the South West and also became an
apparatus of violence for politicians clearly justifies this point.
By and
large, the masses must not have an illusion in the capacity and sincerity of
any section of the capitalist ruling elite whose anti-poor program and policies
largely create and maintain material conditions for insecurity in the first
place to adequately protect them. The major reasons the police and other
official security bodies cannot adequately fight crime is firstly because they
are in reality fundamentally an instrument of class oppression and secondly
because they are not adequately equipped while the rank and file members are
poorly paid and ill-motivated. So, it is misplaced to expect that the governors
who pay poverty wages or have failed to fulfill their social obligation on the
provision of health, education and infrastructure to run and finance an
effective and efficient security outfit to defend the length and breadth of the
southwest.
It is
against the background of the foregoing that we of the SPN call on the masses
to support the call for the formation of multi-ethnic and multi-religious
defence committees in communities which could be armed if necessary but whose
operation must be under the democratic control of the community people.
The masses
must reject any argument or position of the government that declares any
independent mass initiative of the people to protect themselves illegal. The
government which has failed in its constitutional responsibility to protect
lives and property does not have authority to hamstring the masses with
provisions of the same constitution, which was imposed on the people without
any referendum. This is why, despite our opposition to Amotekun for reasons articulated
above, we hold that it is shameful for Attorney General Abubakar Malami of
Buhari government, under whose watch the state of insecurity in the country has
significantly worsened, to hide under constitutionalism to reject Amotokun
initiative which is a response to the failure of Buhari-led government, albeit
not a genuine alternative.
We also
reject the use of the fact that some northern states have set up Hisbah to
justify the formation of Amotokun. Hisbah, a reactionary religious security
outfit that is bureaucratically and autocratically run, largely targets the
poor and has failed woefully to fight crime. Just the way we are opposed to
Amotekun, we are opposed to Hisbah and other security outfit under the
bourgeois self-serving control.
We note that
the debate on Amotekun has brought again to the front burner the question of
farmer-herder conflict. We understand that the activities of herders, who drive
cattle into farmlands, usually provoke conflicts between farmers and herders.
These conflicts sometimes lead to deaths. There are also allegations of
rustling of cattle by farmers or locals. While we support that the culprit
herders or farmers should be arrested and prosecuted, we hold that law and
order approach is not enough to resolve the crisis. We therefore reiterate our
support for the call for ranching of cattle with government intervention as
part of a democratic controlled massive public investment in the modernization
of agriculture (both crop and livestock) including setting up of democratically
managed public large-scale farms and development of the rural areas in terms of
providing basic infrastructures and social amenities. This will not only
prevent conflicts between herders and farmers but also create jobs and
guarantee food security.
Furthermore,
we of the SPN reject any narrative that profiles Fulani herdsmen as the only
criminals in the southwest especially on highways. While there are criminals
who are of Fulani extraction, we believe some of these criminals are also from
other ethnic groups. Therefore we caution against stereotyping of Fulani
herdsmen especially by the southern media and commentators as this is capable
of endangering lives of peaceful innocent herders who are not criminals.
We also
note that Amotekun saga has helped accentuate the national question which
cannot be resolved by the primitive capitalist elite in Nigeria. Rather the
capitalist elite use ethnic and religious divisions as a vehicle to access the
collective wealth of the country at the expense of the masses. We therefore
call on labour movement which is the strongest unifying force of the working
masses as demonstrated in struggles on fuel prices and minimum wage to
intervene with a national campaign and mobilization of the working masses and
the poor against insecurity which must be linked to demands on social issues
such as education, health care, food security and jobs. It is only such a
popular movement, independent of pro-capitalist, corrupt and opportunist
politicians that can fight for the real interests of working people and the
poor. Such a campaign linked with the imperative of a mass working people
political alternative with a socialist program can wrest power from the
thieving ruling elite and defeat their system of exploitation and oppression which
creates social inequality and mass poverty together with attendant insecurity.
Abbey T Trotsky
Acting National Chairperson
08033914091
Acting National Chairperson
08033914091
Chinedu Bosah
National Secretary
07033775517
National Secretary
07033775517
