By Andy Moxley, Nigeria Solidarity Campaign
After 44 days of incarceration, Daniel Akande was released on bail on Monday 14 October. Daniel is a member of Movement for a Socialist Alternative (Socialist Alternative’s sister section in Nigeria) and was arrested alongside hundreds of other activists by the capitalist Tinubu regime for their participation in the #EndBadGovernance mass protest movement against astronomical price inflation and low wages at the beginning of August this year.
Since the end of the protests, the Nigerian state has begun a brutal crackdown reminiscent of the days when the country was ruled by military dictatorship. Among the hundreds arrested, eleven activists including Daniel have been detained on trumped-up charges of treason which carry a maximum sentence of the death penalty. They have spent weeks in prison and some have been tortured for information. In response, an international campaign of solidarity has been launched by International Socialist Alternative which includes the Nigeria Solidarity Campaign in Britain.
Unreachable bail conditions
During the roughly six weeks Daniel was incarcerated, no substantial evidence was presented for the extreme charges and he was initially held without any contact with the outside world. The original bail conditions set for him and the rest of the eleven were clearly intended to be unachievable for the working masses – an amount of bail equivalent to almost a year and half’s wages and being a registered landed property owner in the Nigerian capital. A legal appeal by human rights lawyers and pressure from the solidarity campaign both within Nigeria – which organised a march to the Human Rights Commission’s office in Lagos on 1 October – and abroad was able to get the bail conditions altered so that Daniel and the rest of the eleven would be able to make them, though there were intentional delays from the courts leaving Daniel languishing in prison even longer.
This important early victory was a direct result of the global solidarity campaign which helped to put important pressure on the Nigerian state. Hundreds of protest letters from individuals and workers’ organisations have flowed into the inboxes of the police and the President and protest actions have been organised in different countries around the globe, including at the Nigerian embassy in London. This pressure led to the loosening of the original bail conditions.
The international solidarity campaign has continued to gain momentum within the workers’ movement. Led by ISA supporters within Conlutas (left-wing trade union federation) in Brazil, a recent statement of support was signed by over 70 trade unions and workers organisations globally including Solidaires in France and the Confederación General del Trabajo (CGT) in the Spanish state. More recently ANDES – the national university professors union in Brazil – expressed its support at their national delegate conference. In Britain, numerous local trades councils and more recently the NEC of the National Education Union, the biggest educators’ union in the UK (and Europe), have joined the call for freedom for Daniel and all those facing repression because of their support of the movement.
What next?
The story is far from over. The eleven were due to begin their trial on 8 November and so far none of the charges have been dropped, so another international day of protest will be necessary. The trial has been postponed, awaiting a new date. There is still a real risk of the death penalty, and, even if this were substituted by lengthy prison sentences, it would still constitute a massive attack on the working masses of Nigeria. Should the government succeed, it sets the precedent for these nefarious methods to be launched on an even wider basis. This is very dangerous because it is clear that the current government is one that is going to do nothing to alleviate the suffering of the Nigerian masses and that mass protest and strike movements will be necessary over the next period even to gain minor concessions. Thus the prospect looms in the near future of hundreds or even thousands facing the same fate if the prosecution succeeds.
In Nigeria, members and supporters of MSA have been campaigning for the trade unions to take even more decisive action and firmly place themselves at the front of the movement. At the time of writing, there is a campaign being waged to call on the unions to initiate a 48-hour general strike against another increase in fuel prices – one of the main triggers of the mass mobilisations over the past period. This would need to be linked also to the calls for an end to repression and for the formation of a political organisation composed of the working masses against the capitalist parties of the People’s Democratic Party and African Democratic Congress who control the government. It remains to be seen whether the Nigerian Labour Party can be reclaimed as this vehicle.
8 November: international day of solidarity action
In Britain, we need to continue to intensify and broaden the Nigeria Solidarity Campaign. On 8 November, there will be protests in several cities including at the Nigeria High Commission (Embassy) in London. These should be built for widely to continue to build as much pressure as we can in assistance to the eleven. It is clear as well that the issues of living standards and repression facing the Nigerian masses will not be quickly resolved given the opposition of the capitalist Tinubu regime. Thus the importance of solidarity with Nigerian workers and the poor is not of an episodic character. The working class in Britain has big potential power in strengthening the hand of the struggle in Nigeria, in the best traditions of workers’ internationalism.
But that means getting organised. Based on the next mobilisations, the possibility of expanding the Nigeria Solidarity Campaign into a broader campaign with democratic structures and goals is an important consideration to incorporate working class and youth who are drawn to its internationalist standpoint. Socialist Alternative in England, Wales and Scotland will play a role in opening up the idea of pursuing this in the next period. An injury to one is an injury to all!
