Urgent need to build Mass Working People's Party now!
After several months of heavily monetized
campaigns, inducement and rotten politicking, the Osun State governorship
election held on August 9, 2014. The election held amidst heavy militarization
with well over 65, 000 security forces, including the police, state security
service, army etc., storming the state as if there was a state of war. At the
end of voting, the current governor of the state, who was also the governorship
candidate of the All Progressive Congress (APC), Rauf Aregbesola won the
election, garnering 394, 684 votes, amounting to 55 percent of the votes. His
main challenger, Iyiola Omisore, the candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party
(PDP), the party ruling at the federal level, scored 292, 747 votes, amounting
to 40 percent of the votes. The Labour Party candidate, Fatai Akinbade, a
former chieftain of PDP and erstwhile secretary to the earlier Oyinlola/PDP
government had a meager 8, 898 votes. Unlike previous governorship elections,
this election was not characterized by reports of mass rigging, ballot
snatching and stuffing, violence at polling centres or data crunching.
Therefore, the results present a good factsheet for the review of the election.
The election, as much as there was heavy but
intimidating presence of the security forces, witnessed high turnout in many
areas. As early as 5.30 am, voters in many towns including Osogbo, Gbongan,
Ile-Ife, etc. had besieged the polling centres. This in itself was a strong
message to the security forces that people were prepared to defend their votes.
More than this, it shows the readiness of the mass of people, especially the
downtrodden, to take necessary political actions to fight for improved living
conditions. Unfortunately, the political parties and their candidates in the
election offered no fundamental and practical way out of the socio-economic
problems facing the working and toiling masses. Therefore, this mass
enthusiasm, in the absence of a genuine working people's party with clear
programme of socio-economic, political and cultural emancipation, became a mere
service in the interests of various capitalist political forces.
Rotten Politicking
This election witnessed a huge deployment of
billions of naira for campaign and inducement. This was carried out by all the
major political parties, especially PDP and APC. The Aregbesola government, despite
being in government for about four years and thus having the opportunity to use
its scorecard for campaign, was engaged in rotten politics of inducement
through what is now commonly referred to as "Stomach Infrastructure".
This involved inducing voters with staple consumer goods like rice, kerosene,
etc. There was stiff competition between the PDP and APC in the rotten politics
of "Stomach Infrastructure". This is aside from billions spent on
hundreds of bill boards and thousands of posters. This clearly shows the
bankrupt character of these parties.
The PDP has been the ruling party at the Federal
level since 1999, but so terrible is its performance that it had to rely on
inducement of voters to secure votes. This is not unexpected as the party, and
the governments it formed at national and state levels, are rooted in
neo-liberal policies of privatization, commercialization, etc. that ensures
more wealth for the rich few, while pushing more people to the dungeon of
poverty and want. But the APC is no different. In fact, the state was almost
choked with posters and billboards and banners, such that people started
wondering if Aregbesola was an opposition candidate in the state. This is in
sharp contrast with that party's performance in the 2007 and 2011 elections
whene the mass of people, without being assaulted with unnecessary campaigns
and inducements voted en mass for the APC predecessors, the AC and ACN
respectively, seeing it as an alternative to the PDP. Coupled with this was the
rotten politics of wooing other corrupt politicians into his campaign trains.
For instance, Olagunsoye Oyinlola, the immediate
past governor and a former member of the PDP, was ushered into the Aregbesola
campaign team and the APC with fanfare. This is an insult to the memories of
the hundreds of youths and poor people killed, injured, maimed or detained in
the bitter struggle that ensued to reclaim Aregbesola's mandate stolen by
Oyinlola and his PDP thugs in 2007. But the same Oyinlola, along with others
like Isiaka Adeleke, became the beautiful brides of the APC. This further shows
that there is no fundamental difference among the bourgeois political parties
and politicians. They only use political parties as a means of identification.
Indeed, Omisore himself, the PDP candidate, was a former member and Deputy
Governor under the banner of the Alliance for Democracy (AD), the forerunner of
APC. Moreover, it shows the rotten character of the Aregbesola government.
Therefore, the support given to this government by some 'left activists' and
'socialists' shows the bankrupt ideas of this set of people.
Victory Reveals Weakened Social Base
Immediately, after the elections, various
interest groups, not the least many self-styled 'activists' and 'socialists',
were falling over each other to congratulate the winner of the election, Rauf
Aregbesola and the APC. The victory was hailed as victory over evil and devious
forces. To the APC, it was a gracious opportunity to start reclaiming its lost
ground after suffering a humiliating defeat in Ekiti State governorship
election some two months ago. However, a sober analysis shows that rather than
the election showing acceptance of the Rauf Aregbesola/APC government, it is
more of an indictment of the government. For an incumbent governor, contesting
against one of the most divisive and hated candidates in Osun State's history,
the election cannot be an approval of the government. That the PDP candidate,
who has no discernible alternative to many of the Aregbesola's anti-poor
policies, was able to garner as much as 40 percent of the votes, shows the
growing disenchantment with the Aregbesola/APC government.
Of course, Aregbesola won with a margin of over
101, 000 votes, but this is just a side of the story. Close to half of this
vote differential, 46, 518, came from just two local government areas in Osogbo
(Osogbo and Olorunda), the state capital, where the government's so-called
developmental projects are concentrated. Despite the heavy presence of
government in these areas, the opposition polled as much as 20, 000 votes. In
many local governments where the APC won, the margins were not so much; with
PDP scoring thousands of votes. For instance in Esa-Oke, the hometown of the
late AD chieftain, Bola Ige, the PDP candidate won two units while the APC won
three. Indeed, many of those who voted for Aregbesola, did so not necessarily
because they supported the government's policies most of which were anti-poor,
but to avoid the horrible spectre of Omisore emerging as a governor. More so
that over 292,000 voted against Aregbesola is a sign of the weakened base of
the government and a foretaste of the mass movement that will develop later
over social and economic issues.
Two Conclusions
This presents two conclusions. The first is that
his victory notwithstanding, the election is a rejection of the anti-poor
policies of the Aregbesola/APC government in the education sector, economy,
civil service, etc., which have alienated majority of the working people. It is
instructive here to recall that the period before the election had seen strikes
and combative protests by students, workers and other social forces over some
of the government's divisive education and other policies. Indeed just before
the election, an over five month-long strike of academic staff of the State
tertiary institutions was hurriedly "settled" to avoid a potential
electoral backlash. Therefore the election, while granting another four-year
term for the government, does not reflect general acceptance of the government,
nay its policies. It is more of choosing between two evils, albeit a lesser
evil. Clearly, an attempt of the government to wanting to continue implementing
the same policies will lead to explosion of mass anger and resistance among the
working and toiling people in the coming period.
Secondly, this election has shown the growing
disillusionment with the main capitalist political parties in the country.
While the APC was rejected in Ekiti State, the victory of PDP there has little
to do with its acceptance, but more of protest votes against the outgoing
Fayemi/APC government. In Osun State, the victory of Aregbesola/APC, as much as
it reflects the general hatred for the PDP and especially its candidate, shows
the latent anger against the anti-poor pro-rich policies of the Aregbesola/APC
government. More than this, more and more people are seeing the bankruptcy of
the vague 'progressivism' of the APC as a national opposition party. As 2015
elections draw nearer, this disillusionment may be expressed more sharply.
While the Osun elections may have bought the APC some lifeline and helped it
recover from its losses in Ekiti, the biting reality of the anti-poor nature of
the party will show it has nothing to offer the people. The recent reversal of
the exorbitant school fees in Lagos State University (LASU) to the old rate by
the Fashola/APC government is a desperate step to stem the supersonic free-fall
of the party's appeal among the working masses.
New Mass Party and Rebuilding Labour Movement
This therefore emphasizes the need to build an
alternative political platform of the working and oppressed people, as a
counterweight to the rotten politics of the main bourgeois parties. The
ridiculous votes scored by the Labour Party in the election, shows that the
party has no working class base. It also reflects the failure of the rotten
politics of its leadership which prioritizes enticement of disgruntled
anti-poor politicians, at the expense of building the party among the working
and oppressed people. The trend of the party's politics and its low level of
acceptance, has further underlined the need to build a new mass party of the
working people.
The leadership of the labour movement
unfortunately has gone neck-deep into rotten politics while abandoning the
fundamental task of building mass movement of the working people. This is
clearly reflected in the Osun governorship election, where various sections of
the labour leadership in the name of workers supported various bourgeois
contestants in PDP and APC. While the main leaders of the Nigeria Labour
Congress (NLC) and Trade Union Congress (TUC) supported the candidacy of
Aregbesola, a splinter group within TUC leadership supported Omisore. Prior to
this time, the national leadership labour movement supported one politician or
the other as witnessed in Ekiti and Anambra, where the NLC leaders supported
Kayode Fayemi and Ifeanyi Ubah respectively. These same leaders that were quick
to adopt bourgeois politicians find it difficult to defend to logical
conclusion interests of workers. This therefore emphasizes the need to rebuild
the labour movement with revolutionary leadership, as a first premise for a
fighting platform.
The Challenge of the SPN
In recognition of the need for a mass working
people's party, the Democratic Socialist Movement (DSM), alongside other
change-seeking activists, socialists, workers and youths, have initiated the
formation of a party, the Socialist Party of Nigeria (SPN) as a first step
towards building a mass party of the working people. The SPN has reached the
final stage of registration with the INEC, despite several hurdles placed
against it by the electoral body. If registered, SPN will stand for elections
in the coming period. However, registered or not, the party shall continue to
build mass movements of workers, the poor and youth for immediate and long-term
socio-economic, political and cultural emancipation.
The party will be run as a democratic and
revolutionary platform of the working people. Elected politicians under SPN
will earn the salary of workers, and donate the rest to the genuine causes of
communities and working people as democratically decided by the party. However
if the party is in the government the resources freed up by paying elected and
appointed officials average salaries of civil servant will be ploughed into
fund for pro-working people program. SPN will fight and implement all social
programmes including free and quality education at all levels; free medical
care at the point of use; mass public housing; full, decent and secure employment
for all able bodied citizens; adequate and potable water supply; stable, cheap
and accessible electricity supply for all Nigerians; massive infrastructural
development, etc.
In order to mobilise resources for these
programmes, the SPN will end the corrupt contract system whereby billions of
naira are gifted to private contractors, while the public works departments are
made redundant. Moreover, SPN will strive to end the culture of looting by
putting resources, projects and administration of public offices under a strict
democratic control of workers and communities. This will save the society of
billions of naira going to the pockets of a few rich. Ultimately, the SPN will
nationalize the mainstay of the economy and put it under democratic public control,
ownership and management. This will mean billions of dollars of public wealth
going to the private accounts of big businesses – both local and foreign – will
be made available for human, materials and societal development.
In Osun State, there is indication that the
coming period will witness mass struggles of workers and the poor, as the
government will use its electoral victory to continue with many of its
anti-poor policies, many of which have been highlighted in our previous
statements and analyses (see www.socialistnigeria.org). We in the SPN will play active
roles in these struggles. However, we enjoin all change-seeking people
including workers, youth, students, pro-labour activists, to join us in
building the genuine political platform for socialist change.
