On June 12, 1993, Nigerians from all walks of life rose up to elect a civilian president to replace the extant military dictator, Gen. Ibrahim Babangida who was head of a military junta renowned for extreme corruption, repression and bastardization of the economy bringing hardship on the poor masses. Nigerians looked forward to a better run economy, national institutions that work for the people, respect for human rights of all and equal opportunities for all to thrive. Unfortunately, the results of the widely acknowledged free and fair election was canceled without any reason whatsoever by the same military junta that organized it!
Nigerians resisted this violent assault and engaged the military in a series of street battles and mass strikes which forced the Babangida junta out of power. But another military bandit called Gen. Sani Abacha took over. As it became clear that Abacha was only interested in handing over to himself in a charade of a transition program, Nigerians continued their agitations on the streets and by 1998, the Abacha junta itself succumbed to popular pressure when he died in office and his successors led by Gen. Abubakar had to hurriedly organize elections that ushered in civilian rule in 1999.
Unfortunately, since 1999, a very venal and criminal-minded class of politicians has seized Nigerians by the jugular, subjecting the country to an unprecedented regime of looting of public resources, destruction of public services especially education, healthcare, potable water and electricity while they literally stole national assets and companies worth trillions of dollars in bogus ‘privatization’ exercises.
Many of these companies such as the steel rolling mills in Oshogbo, Jos and Katsina and over 300 other state-owned enterprises were then stripped of their assets by the new ‘buyers’ while millions of workers were laid off. In a state like Lagos, government sells off public lands and spaces such as markets and mechanic villages to their fronts and turn these public spaces to their own while rendering hundreds of thousands of self-employed workers, traders and artisans in the informal sector jobless. They also evict people living in informal settlements and take over the land for themselves.
The politicians have turned it to a practice to arm hooligans and other criminals with dangerous weapons to help them rig elections. After the elections, the armed bandits become terror on the rest of society. This results in terrible insecurity all over the country while farmers are terrorized to abandon the farms. Prices of food have skyrocketed while mass unemployment of young people is rife.
June 12 Today and Our Demands!
June 12 today is a clarion call for us to all rise up and restate the reasons why we and our fathers and mothers fought for democracy. As we march to mark the day, we demand:
All political prisoners and citizens being held on spurious grounds by the Gen. Buhari government be released unconditionally.
All stolen government properties, lands and spaces be reclaimed for public use.
Overhaul of our refineries to make them supply affordable energy to boost production and employment while those making them unworkable should be prosecuted.
Increased funding of basic public goods especially education, healthcare, potable water supply etc
Renationalization of the power sector as the private operators that stole them from the public with the promise of more efficient services, more employment and reduced energy cost have demonstrated that they are only interested in fleecing Nigerians with over 500% increase in tariffs, bogus estimated billings while they give Nigerians only darkness.
A more concerted war on the bandits armed by politicians causing mayhem all over the country. Communities should be encouraged to arm and protect themselves rather than relying on overfed Generals who have turned the war on terror to an opportunity to become billionaires.
We call on all Nigerians to also learn from our history and resist moneybag politicians. They serve themselves and not the 99% of the masses. We must kick them out and throw off the burden of their exploitative system that threatens to destroy the poor working people!
We call on all Nigerians to resist the Buhari government descent to totalitarianism marked by the vicious mass killing of peaceful protesters during the Endsars Protests and the recent ban on Twitters and the regime’s quest to restrict free Speech.
Coalition for Revolution (CORE), www.revolutionnow.ng
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