RE: Mr. Apple of God's Eye, STOP PLAYING THE ROLE OF AN AGENT-PROVACATEUR TO DEROGATE JAF, COME TO THE OPEN TO STATE YOUR GRIEVANCES!

*JAF REMAINS A PRINCIPLED ORGANISATION!

1. *We should recall that as Secretary of JAF, we circulated widely a post on May 20, 2021 tagged "CHATS ON LABOUR AND THE STATE WHATSAPP (reposted below).

*2. Then, ystde May 30, the same person 'hiding' under the pseudonym Mr. Apple @ God's Eye was engaged on the same WhatsApp in another chats with the JAF Deputy Chairperson, reproduced as follows: Achk: We urge JAF affliates and members to join the Day of Action against Insecurity to be held tomorrow Monday May 31, 2021 in Abuja and a number of states nationally. Take off points are Abuja - Unity Fountain; Lagos - Ikeja UnderBridge; Oyo - NULGE Event Centre Dugbe-Onireke Road Ibadan and Osun - Freedom Park Osogbo. Time 8am

 

Is JAF just waking up from sleep. JAF and the CSO brought us to where we find our self as a country. Where are the occupy Nigerians. Who said fuel price will be 80naira and the dollar 💵 80- 100 with this administration. What is the security situation today. Is 6years now. Where’s the fuel price and dollar today. Where’s is our economy today. It is written faith without work is death. 

I do not know who this is. Let's know your name so we can engage properly. JAF did not bring anybody to where we are. Nigerians brought themselves to this place. In 2011, JAF issued a.public statement to the effect that a Jonathan presidency will not resolve the problem of misgovernance in the country. In 2015, JAF issued a public statement warning about the dangers of a Buhari presidency. The argument was that there was a deep systemic dysfunction within the Nigerian state that would have to be overthrown in other to move the country in the right direction. At no time has JAF ever supported any government from 1999 till date. I can ask the JAF Secretary to post our position statements on all occasions of change of governments on this platform."

3. *@Mr. Apple of God's eye, u need not hide your real identity, becos as someone, being a student of Malcolm X and who drinks from the fountain of his wisdoms, one can always uncover the 'hidden elements' and u ve bn uncovered! - "in the bush are hunters hunting the animals but there are also the forces who hunt the hunters" - Malcolm X

4. AS JAF, WE INVITE U TO DISCLOSE YOUR IDENTITY BEFORE WE DISCLOSE U, STATE WHAT YOUR ISSUES ARE AND STOP FRONTING FOR OTHERS! AND WE WILL ENGAGE YOU BASED ON PRINCIPLES!

Cde-Aremu

JAF Sec

*NB: as reposted!*

*CHATS ON 'LABOUR AND THE STATE WHATSAPP!* 

JAF and some CSO should hid there face in shame. They are the reason the Nigerian masses are suffering. They can not play a saint in current situation Nigerian workers find themselves. Our help is in God. 

Aby: *@ Mr. Apple of God's eye: I can speak for JAF but wouldn't know d organisations that qualified as d CSO u mentioned! We are JAF and our faces are not hidden. Our humble interventions on d side of the working people and d poor massesfor the past two decades bear testimonies to what we stand for! We don't struggle for d workers/people bcos we are not storm troopers or hired mercenaries of d workers/ people. Instead, we struggle with d workers/people because their class interest is our class interest, their cause is our cause and their aspirations are also ours! When we struggle with the workers/ people, we do not do so because of d individuals or their leaders, we struggle based on the necessity to struggle and class solidarity! Therefore, whatever we do with d class of workers/ oppressed masses, is a DUTY we owe to our class interest and we will always live up to it, bearing in mind that we also as an organisation and as individuals in the organisations, we have limitations, which we must admit, identify and overcome, in order for FORWARD MOVEMENT! If in your wisdom, u alleged or condemned as JAF as being "the reason the Nigerian masses are suffering", we want to humbly ask you to speak elaborately to it so that we can learn lessons on what u "judged" JAF has done to wrong the people! And if u ve followed JAF and check our antecedents, we have always made our identity very clear as a pro-Labour coalition and not just any egbekegbe CSOs (salute to Fela Anikulapo-Kuti Abami Eda for his song - United Nations egbekegbe)! And for some us, we don't and can't run away from any struggle where the class interest of the workers and oppressed poor masses are at stake! As a learning student of ERNESTO CHE GUEVARA, I remain inspired by one of his numerous thoughts - "A BATTLE MAY BE WON OR LOST, THE MOST IMPORTANT IS THAT THE BATTLE MUST BE FOUGHT!*

*Comrade Abiodun Aremu, JAF Secretary*

EL-RUFAI IS A CRIMINAL: JAF DECLARES MAXIMUM SUPPORT FOR THE NLC RESISTANCE IN THE KADUNA WORKERS' STRIKE

PRESS STATEMENT

JAF SUPPORTS THE NLC RESISTANCE IN THE KADUNA WORKERS' STRIKE,

• DECLARES EL-RUFAI A CRIMINAL FOR PUBLIC PROSECUTION,

• URGES NATIONWIDE SOLIDARITY STRIKE OF WORKERS & THE POOR MASSES!

• The Struggle of Nigerian Workers WILL DEFINITELY OUTLIVE El-RUFAI & his Cohort of Anti-Labour, Anti-People Governors & Vagabonds in Power!

1. The Joint Action Front ((JAF) salutes the leadership of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) for the resistance in the ongoing 5-day Warning Strike aimed to compel the arrogant and criminally minded Governor Nasir el-Rufai of Kaduna State, to reverse his anti-people and anti-labour policies of sacking of over 30,000 workers, in the past five years, with the recent illegal sack of 4,000 workers being the latest.

2. However, rather than respond to the legitimate and popular demands of the NLC and the affected workers, the arrogant and criminally incensed El-Rufai adored the destructive and intransigence stance of violent repression of the peaceful protests, that commenced on Monday May 17, 2021 and which have been successful with the shutdown of work services and activities in Kaduna State.

3. JAF commends the NLC leadership and the entire workers in Kaduna for their principled defiance of the pre-strike threats and actual violence unleashed by sponsored thugs and the police attacks facilitated by the El-Rufai dictatorial and brutish government. The attacks unleashed against the peaceful protest marches and defenceless workers since the commencement of the popular strike is despicable and criminal and Governor El-Rufai should be held responsible for the current state of anarchy he is bent on foisting in the state by pitting other categories of workers and working people against workers in the services of the Kaduna State Government, based on his malicious and spurious propaganda of the shares of revenues in the State.

4. JAF enjoins the NLC, the sacked workers and the entire Nigerian workers not to be deterred by the threat of further attacks and illegal imposition of measures being recklessly pronounced by Governor El-Rufai, but rather, the leadership of the NLC should be encouraged to call an emergency National Executive Council (NEC) meeting with a view to declare nationwide strike and mass protest of the working people and oppressed masses.

5. JAF wants to reiterate that the demand by the NLC for the unconditional recall of all the over 30,000 (recently and before) sacked workers should be in focus, in addition, to insisting on the full implementation of the national minimum wage and the reversal of all anti-Labour policies and anti-poor measures in Kaduna State. The demands of the nationwide strike and protest we are proposing should include rejection of any planned increase in fuel prices and electricity tariff and anti-poor policies of Buhari government and the general state of insecurity.

6. JAF urges the Nigerian working people and the poor to disregard the desperate and illegal declaration of the NLC President Ayuba Wabba wanted by El-Rufai, as an act of INSANITY and of a drowning criminal who ordinarily, shouldn’t occupy public office in a democratic space!

7. Equally, JAF demands that the Inspector General of Police and the Kaduna Commissioner of Police stand culpable and indicted for the degeneration of the peaceful protests by workers into violence. The police from documentary evidence available, rather than protect the peaceful protest from the Hell Rufai’s recruited thugs, joined forces with the thugs to destabilise the protests with their indiscriminate shootings, but for the large turnout of the organised mass of workers, whose courageous and commendable resistance defied and overcame the violence.

8. We in JAF take serious note that the El-Rufai’s violence attack on workers has once more brought to the fore the consistent demand by JAF on why the NLC and the organised Labour should be resolved to organise and mobilize the Nigerian workers along the line of working class ideological direction in the struggle to end the policies of neoliberalism that are manifested in privatisation, deregulation, dependence on IMF and World Bank policies, which are the driving forces of retrenchment of the workforce, mass unemployment, general state of insecurity, lack of commitment by Government to the welfare of the majority of the people, etc.

9. Therefore, JAF urges all the organisations of the working people and the oppressed poor across the country to join forces with the NLC, not only in the ongoing workers’ struggle in Kaduna State but to be prepared to sensitise and mobilize Nigerians in their various constituencies on the urgent necessity to UNITE & ORGANISE on a nationwide struggle for SYSTEM CHANGE!

This is what we meant by SYSTEM CHANGE:

“Nigeria is rich. The wealth belongs to the people. Most Nigerians are hungry, have no jobs, no education, no healthcare, no potable water, no electricity supply and no affordable transportation. Most cannot feed their families or educate their children. Those who are lucky to have jobs are not much different. They also cannot afford a decent living for their families. On the other hand, there is a very tiny group of Nigerians who have cornered the wealth that belong to the working people and the poor, who are in the majority. They loot the treasury and use their stolen wealth to sustain themselves in power through their political parties. They use their power to get richer and richer when the poor get poorer and poorer. This is the system of exploitation and oppression. It is the system that brings out the army and the police to kill poor people when they protest against oppression and exploitation. We want to change that system and replace it with a system where the working people and the millions of people who are sufferings under the system of exploitation will win power and ensure that the wealth of Nigeria is used to ensure a good life for the majority of the people who are now exploited and oppressed. System change is not replacing one exploiter’s government by another exploiter’s government. It is replacing an exploiter’s government by a people’s government to reorganise Nigeria and put an end to exploitation and oppression”.

“The System Change we want will UNITE the vast majority of our people under a government that will organise the working people and oppressed poor to boost our productive capacities and will use the resources for sustainable economic and social advancement; thereby reversing our economic dependency and restoring our dignity as an independent country. The Government of the working people will take care of all Nigerians no matter where they come from, their religion, where they live, and their sex. It will care for all Nigerians dehumanised by the rule of the oppressors”.

DARE TO STRUGGLE, DARE TO WIN!

DR. DIPO FASHINA  - JAF Chairperson

Comrade ABIODUN AREMU - JAF Secretary

Address:

Joint Action Front (JAF)

10, Afolabi Lesi Street, Anthony-Ilupeju, Lagos

08035068524, 08033347962,

E-mail: [email protected], www.jointactionfront.blogspot.com

MAY 19, 2021.

Press Statement: 4th JAF Congress Holds June 4 – 5, 2021 in Lagos

 

4th CONGRESS OF JOINT ACTION FRONT (JAF) Holds June 4 – 5, 2021

This is to bring to the attention of the working people of Nigeria and oppressed masses, our allies and  other collaborating groups  in popular struggle for the political and socio-economic transformation of Nigeria, that we have been involved  with since 2003 till date, that the Joint Action Front (JAF) will be holding its 4th Congress on June 4 and 5, 2021.

The 4th JAF Congress with the theme: The Necessity of an Alternative Political Agenda to Reconstruct Nigeria is scheduled to hold as follows:

Date:           FRIDAY, JUNE 4th 2021: Time: 09.30 – 17.30hr

SATURDAY, JUNE 5th 2021: Time: 10.00 – 18.00hr Prompt

Venue:    TEXTILE UNION LABOUR HOUSE, 10 Acme Road, off Agindingbi, Ogba-Ikeja

The Congress shall comprise Delegates from JAF affiliates, observers and invited guests.

The AGENDA of the Congress includes:

• Keynote Speeches∷ Defining the Ideological Context of the Labour and Civil Society Coalition∷ Wither LASCO – NLC, TUC & ASUU?

(The leadership of the NLC, TUC & ASUU would be specifically invited to the Congress to state their positions)

• THE POLITICAL ALTERNATIVE QUESTION: Defining JAF Position and its Program of Actions, and

• Conduct of election

 PRE-CONVENTION PROGRAMME OF ACTIVITIES

i. SYMPOSIUM: Insecurity in Nigeria and the Deepening of Ethno-religious Conflicts: Finding Genuine Alternative to the Descent into Barbarism! – TUESDAY MAY 18, 2021

ii. Pre-Congress Affiliates’ Meeting: Saturday, MAY 22, 2021

We wish to restate that JAF remains committed to the struggle and defence of the class interest of the working people, oppressed poor masses, women, academics and professionals, students and youth, artisans, the unemployed and people living with disabilities and other categories of deprived Nigerians. 

Therefore, we urge Nigerians to embrace the STRUGGLE FOR SYSTEM CHANGE (Socialist transformation of Nigeria), which we have consistently explained that: “the Change we want will UNITE the vast majority of our people under a government that will organise the working people and oppressed poor to boost our productive capacities and will use the resources for sustainable economic and social advancement; thereby reversing our economic dependency and restoring our dignity as an independent country. The Government of the working people will take care of all Nigerians no matter where they come from, irrespective of their religion, or wherever they live, and their sex. It will care for all Nigerians that are being dehumanised by the rule of the looters and oppressors”.

Forward Ever, Backward Never!

Comrade ABIODUN AREMU

JAF Secretary

Joint Action Front (JAF)

10, Afolabi Lesi Street, Anthony-Ilupeju, Lagos

08035068524, 08033347962,

E-mail: [email protected], www.jointactionfront.blogspot.com

May 6th 2021.

FROM THE PATRIOTIC YOUTH'S #EndSARS Protest to the ONGOING REALITIES AT PLAY IN NIGERIA!

 

A Profile picture of
Protesters in
Osogbo

*- FIRST from General OBASANJO in "Ali Mon Go" massacre of students in April 1978 and by the mid-80s, the glorious students' movement (NANS) was infiltrated by military rulers, virile students' unionism were undermined and a culture of brigandage and campus cult violence was promoted by successive regimes!*

*- IMF, SAP, World Bank loans' Enslavement came with mass retrenchment of workers, looting and destruction of collective patrimony and values (so-called Privatisation & Deregulation)! And as youth unemployment grew, military rulers and politicians began to recruit, groom and armed the vulnerables in the society,  those now tagged 'thugs' as mercenaries of violence - land grabbing, settling political scores, attacks on dissent voices, infiltration & criminalizing of people's genuine protests, rent-a-crowd supporters of Governments' impunity & bad policies, perpetration of murder, Kidnapping, hostage taking, election rigging, etc*

*- Now the Twitter Generation of Youth came with a commendable model of peaceful protest to #EndSARS, #EndPOLICE Brutality, #EndBAD Government, etc, the same military rulers and politicians sent their "boys" to disrupt, infiltrate and attack the peaceful protesters! Then began protest, protest, protest, every corner in Nigeria with varied disparaging interests!*

*- And the Zombie military came on the night of October 20 to kill and decimate our #EndSARS YOUTH in Lekki-LAGOS!*

*- And the military rulers and politicians' Youth of different tendencies now took over! And everywhere now dey scatter, scatter - LONG LIVE FELA ABAMI EDA with his song - Sorrow Tears & Blood!*

*THE STRUGGLE FOR A JUST SOCIETY (SYSTEM CHANGE) SHOULD BE OUR PRIORITY!*

Joint Action Front (JAF) Calls for a Broad Movement to Struggle for SYSTEM CHANGE!

The latest act of massacre of Nigerians brings to fore once more, the point we in JAF have consistently made that: *"... there is a very tiny group of Nigerians who have cornered the wealth that belong to the working people and the poor, who are in majority.

 They loot the Treasury and use their stolen wealth to sustain themselves in power through their political parties. 

They use their power to get richer and richer while the poor get poorer and poorer. 

 This is the system of exploitation and oppression. It is the system that brings out the army and the police to kill poor people when they protest against exploitation and oppression. 

We want to change that system and replace it with a system where the working people and millions of people who are suffering under the system of exploitation will win power and ensure that the wealth of Nigeria is used to ensure a good life for the majority of the people who are now exploited and oppressed.

 Therefore, system change is not replacing one explorer's government by another explorer's government. 

It is replacing an explorer's government by a people's government to reorganize Nigeria and put an end to exploitation and oppression …"*

Press Statement: JAF CONDEMNS THE GENOCIDE AGAINST THE #EndSARS PROTESTERS!

* CALLS FOR A BROAD MOVEMENT TO FIGHT FOR SYSTEM CHANGE NOW!*

1. The Joint Action Front (JAF) condemned in its entirety the mass muder and genocide committed last night at the Lekki Tollgate, Lagos-Nigeria end of the #EndSARS Protest by the Buhari civilian dictatorship.

2. October 20, 2020 will go down as a SAD DAY, in which the Nigeria Army committed one of its worst atrocities when it unleashed genocidal venom on patriotic Nigerian youths and women, gate in Lagos Nigeria using the guise of curfew imposed by the Lagos Government and in which scorres of peaceful and  defenceless Nigerians were injured and several murdered for daring to continue the #EndSARS Protest.

3. The stage for the massacre of armless youth yesterday, has been on rehearsals in Abuja,, Jo's, Benin, Port Harcourt, Osogbo, Ilorin, Kano, Ibadan, Lagos, etc and other centres across the country where state sponsored violence, employing the use of rented crowds of mercenaries (called thugs and miscreants) were for over a week ago and on daily basis, used to attack the peaceful protests, carried out arsons targeted at destruction of some public properties, especially police stations, all as part of the premeditated design to criminalise the protests and provide the excuse for the notorious and merciless military killings of hapless Nigerians.

4. In other for the Buhari regime to carry out the military's blood thirsty and monstrous crimes, the CCTV cameras and lights in the Lekki Tollgate, were suddenly cut off few minutes to the dastardly operation.

We commiserate with all Nigerians on this particularly sad development of unwarranted blood letting, most especially the family and relations who children, became victims of the state murder.

5. We urge all Nigerians in Lagos and across the country to make public cases of family members and friends shot, killed or missing, since the commencement of the #EndSARS Protest two weeks ago, in order to ascertain the numbers of Nigerians who might have been victims of the Buhari Government's overt and covert state violence.

6. Our duty as JAF in such a moment of national tragedy as this, is to reiterate and intensify the National Mobilisation of Nigerians on a long drawn struggle for SYSTEM CHANGE, which we commenced on September 16, 2020 in our demands for the unconditional reversal in the hikes of the prices of petrol and electricity tariffs.

7. The latest act of massacre of Nigerians brings to fire once more the point we in JAF have consistently made that: *"... there is a very tiny group of Nigerians who have cornered the wealth that belong to the working people and the poor, who are in majority. They loot the Treasury and use their stolen wealth to sustain themselves in power through their political parties. They use their power to get richer and richer while the poor get poorer and poorer.  This is the system of exploitation and oppression. It is the system that brings out the army and the police to kill poor people when they protest against exploitation and oppression. We want to change that system and replace it with a system where the working people and millions of people who are suffering under the system of exploitation will win power and ensure that the wealth of Nigeria is used to ensure a good life for the majority of the people who are now exploited and oppressed. Therefore, system change is not replacing one explorer's government by another explorer's government. It is replacing an explorer's government by a people's government to reorganize Nigeria and put an end to exploitation and oppression …"* THE ABOVE EXPLAINS WHY WE ARE URGING NIGERIANS TO FORM A BROAD MOVEMENT THAT IS DEVOID OF ETHNIC AND RELIGIOUS DIVIDES TO STRUGGLE FOR SYSTEM CHANGE!

8. In the immediate, JAF will identify with all steps action plans  by patriotic Nigerians to bring to justice,locally and internationally, all security forces and their rented crowd of mercenaries and sponsors involved in the ongoing massacres and repression of the #EndSARS Protest.

9. *We want to reiterate that the building of a Broad Movement of Nigerians comprising - working people, poor masses, students and youth, women, professionals, traders, unemployed youth, artisans, farmers, Muslims, Christains, Traditionists, Faith-based groups, People with Physical Disabilitie, etc, on a United Agenda of SYSTEM CHANGE is a NECESSITY to the building of a New Nigeria!*

DARE TO STRUGGLE, DARE TO WIN!

DR. DIPO FASHINA

JAF Chairperson   

COMRADE ABIODUN AREMU

 JAF Secretary

PRESS STATEMENT: SPN CONDEMNS THE BRUTALISATION, ARREST AND DETENTION OF REVOLUTIONNOW PROTESTERS AND JOURNALISTS

WE DEMAND THE IMMEDIATE AND UNCONDITIONAL RELEASE OF ALL ARRESTED PROTESTERS

Socialist Party of Nigeria (SPN) condemns the brutalization, arrest and detention of RevolutionNow protesters and journalists in different parts of the country on Thursday 1st October 2020 being the 60th anniversary of Nigeria’s independence. Particularly in Lagos, about 30 protesters were arrested and a Punch Newspaper reporter brutalized by trigger happy police men. We demand the immediate and unconditional release of all protesters across the country. We support the demands of the protesters against the increase in fuel price and electricity tariff as well as the general hardship in the country.

Hakeem Odumosu, the Lagos State Commissioner of Police and other police officers and Department of State Service (DSS) operatives across the country have reconfirmed their attack dog status by attacking peaceful protesters in Lagos. We would recall that the antecedents of Hakeem Odumosu as the head of the Rapid Response Squad (RRS) for several years before he was appointed the Commissioner of Police was characterized by violations of the rights of Nigerians. These attacks against peaceful protest and freedom of speech are also being carried out by the police across the federation. It should be clear to many that the Police and the Military are structured to protect the interest of a privileged few at the expense of the vast majority.

We also recall that the Police also attacked the protest led by the Socialist Party of Nigeria (SPN) on September 10, 2020, wherein 14 protesters and 4 journalists were arrested and detained. Police repeated the same brutality on September 16, 2020, in a protest led by Joint Action Front (JAF).   

  

 

The Buhari-led government just like the previous civilian governments has taken Nigeria back to the inglorious jackboot military era wherein the fundamental human rights of Nigerians are willfully and brazenly attacked. The Buhari-led government and Nigeria Police blatantly violate Chapter IV of the 1999 Constitution (Fundamental Human Rights of Section 33-43) through its policies and actions. The fundamental human rights of Nigerians to freedom of speech, freedom to protest, freedom of assembly etc., are inalienable rights.  

We are aware that President Buhari wants to brutalize Nigerians into accepting his anti-poor economic policies including the recent hikes in fuel and electricity tariff. We call on the working masses and youths to remain undaunted in the face of these attacks. We should continue to organize resistance against anti-poor policies of deregulation, privatization including hikes in electricity tariff and petrol prices and fight for a country wherein the interest of all is protected. We of the SPN hold that an economy built and sustained on a capitalist programme especially with neo-liberal policies is recipe for disaster and undermines the economic interest of the vast majority of the working masses. An economy that will rescue Nigeria, industrialize it, create jobs on a massive scale and plan production and services to meet the needs of all would have to be nationalized (major sectors and industries to be publicly owned) and democratically controlled by the working people. This is the starting point of what we mean by socialism. We call on the working masses and youth to join us in the struggle to build a better Nigeria where the needs of all, not the greed of few form the basis of governance and economy. Despite mounting repression, the struggle to liberate Nigeria continues and victory is certain! 

 

SIGNED

Abiodun Bamigboye 

Acting National Chairperson 

                                                                      Chinedu Bosah                                                  National Secretary

JAF: WHY NLC, TUC MUST RE-THINK THEIR ACCEPTANCE OF THE GOVERNMENT’S DECEPTIVE, INHUMAN POLICY OF DEREGULATION?

 *WHY THE BUHARI GOVERNMENT IS A CONTINUATION OF THE FRAUDULENT REGIMES OF UNJUST POLICIES KILLING NIGERIANS?*

*WHY NIGERIANS MUST STRUGGLE FOR SYSTEM CHANGE NOW!*

Reproduced below is an excerpt of the interview granted eight years ago by Professor Tam David-West, Petroleum Minister during the era of General Muhammadu Buhari, to GBENRO ADESINA of The NEWS on the controversy over oil subsidy removal.

THERE IS NO OIL SUBSIDY IN NIGERIA!

For the layman on the street, does oil subsidy exist?

There is no oil subsidy in Nigeria. It is a lie and fraud. After the regime of General Buhari, I challenged government after government, from General Ibrahim Babangida and Chief Ernest Shonekan to General Olusegun Obasanjo and President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan, to appear on national television with me to justify their subsidy.

Let me introduce you to the basics. Let us say a particular commodity like gari is sold for N10 per bag hypothetically and the farmers are producing to make us self-sufficient at N10. But at a time, they can’t produce enough because of either bad harvest or natural causes, the government now says since gari is a staple food, the government goes to another country where gari is produced and buys it at N20 per bag and brings it to Nigeria to sell at N10 per bag. The government now writes off the extra N10 –– that is subsidy. The extra N10 the government pays on behalf of the people for them to still buy at N10 is the subsidy paid on that commodity.

No government should exist if it can’t serve the people because government is a trust. They are trustees for the people. Edmund Burke, the great British philosopher, said that government is a contrivance of human wisdom and the wisdom should be used to satisfy people’s needs. Any government that can’t satisfy the need of its people is irrelevant and must be overthrown and kicked out.

Coming to petroleum, there is no oil subsidy. Oil subsidy in Nigeria is fiction, it doesn’t exist and it is a fraud. During Buhari’s time, we had three refineries. When necessary, I mean, whenever there was shortage of oil, we embarked on offshore processing. If at a time, the production of oil couldn’t satisfy our needs, we selected oil companies like Shell and others that we would give crude oil to refine abroad, sell at foreign exchange and pay to our account. We got quantum of barrels of crude oil and gave to these companies and after they might have refined it, let’s say they got one million litres and we needed only 200 litres, they would give us the quantity we wanted and sell the remaining and give us foreign exchange. We only took our fuel back, never imported fuel.

This time what do they do? These fraudulent people will take our oil, refine it and bring it back and sell it at foreign exchange. This is fraud in the highest places. Why is it that during Buhari era, with three refineries we were self sufficient but at this time, with four refineries we are now importing fuel?

I personally signed the contract of the fourth refinery which we call new Port Harcourt Refinery in 1984. It was one of the best in Africa, with a capacity of 160,000 barrels per day. The first refinery, in Port Harcourt, was built in 1965; Warri refinery in 1978, and Kaduna refinery in 1980. A newly constructed refinery can’t have major problem for about 30 years. The problem they will not tell you is that after Buhari, every Minister and Head of State became an oil sheikh, except General Abdulsalam Abubakar.

Some ministers have petrol stations and oil blocs. You can’t serve the nation and serve yourself at the same time because you can’t serve two masters at a time. One must serve his country and the dividends of doing this is satisfaction. Total capacity of our four refineries is 445,000 barrels per day. If the refineries are working even at 80 per cent, we will have more than enough product. They did not do that but sabotaged our refineries.

I have been shouting since 1995 and I wrote that they are killing Nigeria and poor men. And in 2009, the House of Representatives corroborated me by saying that refineries were sabotaged. Abdulsalam as head of state, reacting to the state of our refineries, said he didn’t want to open a box of scandal. Why did they do this to the common man? Who are the importers? Big people!

A senator said this year, Nigeria spends N860 million on fuel importation and they projected that by the end of the year, over N1 trillion will be spent on importation of fuel when our budget is N4.3 trillion. Insanity! Dan Etete said they needed $250 million to repair the refineries but the same minister said Nigeria is importing fuel at $900 million. Is that not insanity? If you need this huge amount of money to repair refineries, why don’t you build new refineries? The money you are using to import, use it to build refineries.  Why do you think Obasanjo did not repair the four refineries we had and build four extra for petroleum to be sold at N20 as he analysed when he was in power?

Olusegun Obasanjo is a great liar. They will not do so in order to continue to import fuel for selfish reasons.

Is it true that Nigeria has the lowest prices of refined products among oil producing countries?

Forget Jonathan! He doesn’t understand what he is saying. He is only parroting what they told him. He talks like a parrot. Can he remove what doesn’t exist? Can’t we build our own refineries to serve us and remove the untold hardship they want to impose on us? Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala said the subsidy goes to the wrong hands. If they remove it, will people not suffer the more? Everything will increase. The new minimum wage of N18,000 will become N2,000.

But Obasanjo said because it is built in phases, it will take about five years to build a refinery?

It is a lie. I told you Obasanjo is a liar. It took just two years to build the fourth refinery. I signed its contract. It is between two and three years. The problem is that there is intellectual laziness and physical indolence. In developed countries, the president will not just talk without being well quizzed. But in Nigeria, at a media chat once, Obasanjo shouted on journalists or talked to them as a teacher. They kept quiet. It doesn’t take five years to build a refinery.

JAF STATEMENT THAT NIGERIANS MUST NEVER FORGET!

In the run down to the 2015 general election, when the Buhari-APC appealed to the Nigerian people, with its alleged change-mantra, JAF cautioned that: Irrespective of the party that wins the presidential election, the crisis in the economy is bound to continue because the economic agenda of the two major parties (PDP and APC) remains dependent on oil and capitalist policies of privatisation and deregulation. These policies are operated and championed by servants of the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF), whose main business is to steal our national wealth for the use of the exploiters in Europe, United States of America, Japan, Asia, etc. These agents cannot

ORGANISE & MOBILISE NOW TO REJECT & RESIST DEREGULATION IN ITS ENTIRETY!

Email: [email protected], www.jointactionfront.blogspot.com

Hike in pump price of petrol & electricity tariff: National union of banks, insurance & financial institutions employees joins nationwide strike

 

AFENIFERE, the Meaning of Progressive Politics, nothing progressive about APC

JAF Mobilisation in KANO for mass action against Buhari/APC led government over hike in fuel, electricity prices and increase in VAt

No true progressive party in power will unleash market forces on the poor citizens to make them poorer, none. 

By its coinage and interpretation, the Action Group, AG, of Chief Obafemi Awolowo, defined "progressive" politics as "Afenifere" i.e, life more abundant for all". This guiding principle defined the welfarist programnes of the party, AG and later UPN, Unity Party of Nigeria, - free & qualitative education, free health for all, rural integrated development, massive employment, drastic tax cut, farm settlement  scheme, establishment of market board to buy off farmers' produce, which acts as a buffer to stabilize local and international prices of cocoa and other produces for farmers to get richer.

Instead of privatizing and selling off public corporations as scraps to their fronts, the AG and later UPN government in the West was investing heavily in creation of public utilities for commonwealth like low cost housing estates, public works corporations for road construction and rehabilitation, industrial estates, forest reserves, banks, hotels, schools and vocational centres, newspapers, television and radio stations and many more so as to create much  commonwealth to finance their public service  driven programnes. As they were creating commonwealth they were also building  human capacity to meet the knowledge requirement.

Awolowo led progressive party never embraced SAP or unleashed privatization, deregulation, commercialisation of public utilities on the people because that would be antithetical to their concept of "AFENIFERE" - Life more abundant for all. Government had business with the business of giving service to the people so that the people in turn can give service back to the region. That we still have high number of Professors in the predominantly  agrarian Ekiti-Ondo axis, was a product of that vision and endeavors of a truly progressive party, AG, to make life more abundant to the overwhelming majority of the people.

The Awo's team appropriately defined their vision and path to Nigeria's greatness and they stood by it in principle and actions. They remained committed to true federalism, resource control, ethnic nationalism. You agreed or disagreed with them, they were guided by their  defined ideology - social democracy. At least, you know what they stood for on almost all issues of governance. 

No progressive party will throw citizens to the jaw of maximum profit driven market forces, it's a monumental fraud to still call such a party "progressive". It's a conservative party led by an ultra-conservative president. Nothing progressive about  APC.

APC and its conjoined  twin, PDP, are strongly  united by their politics and economic philosophy -  election rigging, vote buying, neo-liberal economic attacks. The only "difference" is that the conservative PDP never pretended about its market forces driven anti-poor neo-liberal economic attacks on the people since its establishment  and they never  swindled people in their campaigns with promises of  true federalism, resource control, ethnic nationalism, they are  pretentious nationalists and status quo defenders all the time. 

It's because of this identical political and market economy philosophy that binds the two parties together  that makes it  so easy for a  top politician or a high profile political  thug  to sleep in the evening as an ultra-conservative and wake up in the morning as a "progressive" or vice versa. Ize Iyamu and Obaseki's switch of parties "just like that" to run for gubernatorial election further put a lie to any pretence to ideological difference. The two anti-poor, pro-rich, pro-market capitalist parties are one in soul and spirit. 

For a better Nigeria, system change is inevitable.

Adeola Soetan

Security stop protest on hardship facing Nigerians in Kano

By Abdulmumin Murtala, Kano

Security agents comprising of police, SSS and NCDC have stopped some angry Nigerians from staging a protest against the increase in the prices of Fuel, Electricity and Value Added Tax in the country.

The protest led by a civil society organization, Joint Action Forum, JAF, started as a rally in front of the premises of the Nigerian Union of Journalists, NUJ along Farm Center Road Tuesday morning amidst heavy security presence.

In a statement titled *"Our Demands"* , signed by the chairman, Dr Musa Bashir and the Secretary, Abba Bello Ahmed, the group called on the Federal Government to reverse the price of Fuel from N160:00 to the 2012 price of N86:00 and to also reverse the increase in rates of Electricity and Value Added Tax.

"Immediate and unconditional reversal of the hike in Petrol price from the current of N160:00 to N86:50 price of 2012 , and reversal of the increase in Electricity tariffs and VAT.

"The Government has the responsibility to make our refineries work and build new ones in order to ensure availability of Petroleum products at cheaper and affordable prices.

"Re-engineering of the security apparatus to ensure organized crimes such as terrorism, banditry, kidnapping, armed robbery are reduced to the barest minimum if not curtailed" part of the statement reads.  

In a hot exchange of words between the protesters and the security agents, the security officers insisted that the protest would not hold lest they get joined by members of the public and disrupt peace in the city. 

Although the security could not speak to newsmen on the matter, the protesters declared that the struggle has just began and they called on the NUC and the TUC to stop dragging feet on the matter and rise and ensure that the agreed minimum wage of N30,000 is implemented.

Culled Online and shared by

Smith Gibby

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Tuesday 22nd September

JOINT ACTION FRONT: KANO CHAPTER KICKS OFF MASS MOBILISATION TUESDAY FOR A NATIONWIDE MASS ACTIONS

 *JAF KANO STATE CHAPTER KICKS OFF MASS MOBILISATION TODAY TUESDAY SEPTEMBER 22 IN CONTINUATION OF THE JOINT ACTION FRONT (JAF) NATIONWIDE RESISTANCE AGAINST HIKE IN PETROL PRICES, ELECTRICITY TARIFF & VAT! SYSTEM CHANGE IS OUR GOAL!*

BREAKING: RAMINBA DECLARES SOLIDARITY WITH JOINT ACTION FRONT

The Radical Agenda Movement in the Nigerian Bar Association , rising from her Lagos Base Meeting held today, Tuesday , 15th September, 2020 has declared solidarity with the Nationwide mass mobilisation of the Joint Action Front, the pro-labour civil society partner of the Nigeria Labour Congress and Trade Union Congress in the Labour and Civil Society Coalition, commencing tomorrow, Wednesday, 15th September, 2020.

This was made known in a statement issued by Mr. Adesina Ogunlana and Ayo Ademiluyi, Chairman and Secretary of the Radical Agenda Movement in the Nigerian Bar Association respectively.

The statement submitted that the fuel price and electricity tariff hikes represent a major blow on the living conditions of the working people and that mass resistance to same has become inevitable. RAMINBA also condemns in strong terms the repression of anti-fuel price and electricity tariff hikes' protests while cautioning the security agencies of the state against clampdown on the protests scheduled for tomorrow , Wednesday,  16th September, 2020.

In the event that the Nigerian security agencies toe their usual line of arrest , harrasment, detention and arraignment of protesters , RAMINBA undertakes that she would enter legal representation on their behalf, PRO BONO PUBLICO