The Southern Governments Have Betrayed The Struggle For Liberation of The Region! They Must Be Brought Down!

 

Statement of the Revolutionary Socialist Vanguard, https://revolutionarysocialistvanguard.wordpress.com/, 22nd July, 2021

 

 

 

Chief Sunday Adeyemo alias Sunday Igboho has been arrested in Republic of Benin the southwestern border country with Nigeria after he was branded a fugitive by the Department of State Services. He is one of the main leading figures of the agitation for self-determination of the Yoruba people of southwestern Nigeria. His arrest comes weeks after his house was raided upon planning to hold what would seem as the last lap of a rally for Oodua/Yoruba nation throughout the south western states. The raid left two civilians dead and at least 40 arrested with total destruction of his property.

 

While leaders of southern secessionist groups like Nnamdi Kanu and Sunday Igboho are being hunted down, the spate of kidnappings by Boko Haram/ISWAP subsidiaries now commonly called “Bandits” show no sign of abating. A recent report shows that in Kaduna, a state in the northeastern part of the country, alone at least 700 people have been kidnapped; 220 people killed and 20 others raped by terrorists in the last 3 months.

 

However the arrest of Nnamdi Kanu and Sunday Igboho signifies a period of setback respectively defeat for the nationalist movements of the south. Without surprise, such a period comes with denunciations from petty bourgeois activists who now berate the arrested agitators for “advocating violent means”. When in real sense the southern people have only taken up arms in self-defense. Members of the traditional left are also not playing second fiddle in this trope as we shall see later on. This is not to say that the leaderships of the secessionist movements are above criticism only that such criticism must not be used to in anyway to justify their arrests.

 

 

 

THE SOUTHERN RULING CLASS AND THE LEFT TRAITORS

 

 

 

The Southern Governors’ Forum (SGF) have dissociated themselves from the mass mobilisations for self-determination and agreed to the return of Nigeria to a regional system of government in a meeting last month. Other members of the ruling class call for “true federalism” and/or “restructuring”. At present there is a tussle between the southern ruling class especially groups in the Niger Delta region of the country and their northern masters over the derivation formula for oil revenues in the new Petroleum Industry Bill (PIB).

 

Thus, while the conflict between the southern ruling class and the northern hegemony has taken conciliatory forms because of the temporary defeat of the southern nationalist movements, the southern ruling class are not ready and will never be willing to pursue the liberation of their regions from northern dominance through and through because of their vested interests. Moreover, they fear that such a struggle may lead to their own deposition from power. So they repress and collaborate with the attack on the growing participation of the people in fighting northern oppression. If anything the southern ruling class has now become an impediment to the liberation of the southern masses from northern subjugation.

 

Large sections of the left in Nigeria and so-called intelligentsia fall into this category by their duplicitous equation of the petty bourgeois leaderships of the nationalist movements to the movements themselves. They also criminally substitute the southern ruling class for the southern people agitating for secession.

 

Worse still are their positions at the time of arrest of Nnamdi Kanu and the invasion of Sunday Igboho residence:

 

“First, due process should have been followed to extradite Nnamdi Kanu, or any alleged fugitive for that matter, in the form of legal authorization from the host country of the fugitive and an arrest warrant issued for an arrest to take place legitimately. However, it would appear that Nnamdi Kanu was abducted and probably drugged before being brought to Nigeria. Similarly, the Gestapo raid on Sunday Igboho’s residence and the avoidable killing of several people during that raid was a reprehensible violation of due process. An arrest warrant to facilitate the arrest of suspects and search of their residence was the least that would have been expected, rather than a needless violent raid on Sunday Igboho’s residence.” (Coalition for Revolution, CORE)

 

”We of the SPN faults this kind of approach and holds that atleast there should have been prior attempts by DSS to invite him for interogation over the allegations after which it can then go ahead and declare him wanted if he fails to honour the invitation without any cogent reasons.” (Socialist Party of Nigeria, SPN)

 

In other words, these comrades are only interested in the “process” of oppression not in ending it. Only rebranding it and making it more appealing, essentially acting as special advisers to the regime.

 

They cannot see that their campaigns for the release of these persons becomes meaningless since they have justified the incarceration of the agitators.

 

Now that the southern governors have betrayed openly the national liberation movements in this time of temporary defeat what excuse can these leftists still claim to make them refuse support for this genuine campaign.

 

Unlike various reformists, Marxists appreciated the initial struggle against the northern ruling class, for this was just a step to fighting the bourgeoisie as a whole. The recognition of the northern ruling class as the enemy could only be expanded to their southern counterparts. Our stance was to support the southern nationalist movements as part of a transitional demand without giving any political approval to the southern ruling class or the reactionary leaderships of these movements.

 

Freedom for Nnamdi Kanu and Sunday Igboho! Drop all charges against all secessionist agitators! Free El Zakzaky!

 

Down with the Southern Governments! They have proven to be internal enemies to the liberation of their own nations! Workers must defend the IPOB/ESN (but such bodies must be run democratically) and join the fight for secession of the southern ethnic nationalities!

 

Form armed self defence militias in communities, schools, workplaces to combat Boko Haram/ISWAP!

 

Northerners must defend the right of the southern ethnic nationalities to secession! For an indefinite general strike to bring down the Buhari regime!