The March 28 Kaduna train attack was a gory incident that left Nigerians perplexed, with some of the victims still helpless till today.
One of the victims of the attack, 30-year-old Dr. Chinelo Megafu, was buried amidst tears on 13 April 2022.
Labor leaders were equally not left out in the gruesome murder. Indeed, there is a coordinated attack on the working people.
One would think that a country that had responsive leaders would, before now, have declared a state of emergency over the incessant killings in Kaduna, particularly over the barbaric train attack that claimed lives and left many abducted by terrorists. We must not forget that the train attack was coming within the same week that an airport was attacked in the same Kaduna.
One would also think that, by now, all the military apparatus and other armed forces would have made concerted efforts to rescue the abducted victims that are, till today, being held captives in the forest.
Certainly, the ruling class keeps pointing it to our faces that they only designed the state security apparatuses to protect the resources of the rich and powerful and never designed to really maintain public peace or secure the common people. At the dearest times when these apparatuses were put to public test, they, in a conscious manner, and at the dictates of the ruling class, failed woefully, leaving citizens to be massacred, robbed, injured and abducted.
Kaduna, which is the current hotspot of terrorism in the country, is only a fragment of an entirely terrorized country, the brunt of which is borne by the working people.
Economic disparity had largely exposed Nigerians to insecurity and terrorism before they began to openly manifest. Those who consciously work to sustain this disparity, however, have been keener on only declaring their presidential ambitions despite the untold hardship and insecurity the country faces.
The worst among them is Vice President Yemi Osinbajo, who, despite being a key player in the President Muhammadu Buhari regime, has flagrantly played dumb to the killings, kidnaps, hunger, and poverty ravaging the land, but only went ahead to declare for Presidency. How insensitive!
We can see that the interests of the looting cabals of the ruling class are much greater than that which they profess for the common people. This is a form of organized crime against the majority of the population. And the criminals are those we call our leaders, politicians in high places.
Once again, Nigeria is boxed into the usual four-year cycle of selecting who is next among the ruling class to further drag the majority into economic misery by satisfying the unending greed of the decaying capitalist system.
At this point, the working people must be resolute, more than ever before, in taking back our lives, wellbeing, and dignity, from the collapsing system, which is it is entering a catastrophic phase.
The working people must unite across all divides to say no to the barbarism we have been thrown into. Our labor creates the wealth that the very few making up the elite class appropriate. We are also the victims of insecurity, unemployment, and inflation among others, The railway workers’ union must begin to mobilize its members for action to protest the Kaduna train attack, and for steps to be taken to safeguard the lives of passengers and members of the union who work every day on the trains.
Families and friends of murdered Kaduna victims and those kidnapped must form a committee, alongside formal and informal workers, artisans, students, and well-meaning Nigerians to press home demands for urgent rescue of the victims and adequate compensation to the families of those that were killed.
Working people must begin to form local committees to discuss and organize self-defense against terrorist attacks, particularly in Kaduna, Plateau, and other hotspot regions of terrorist attacks.
This should not end without the working people organizing to challenge the ruling parties at the 2023 general election with the aim of taking political and economic power.
The Nigerian students and academic workers (lecturers and non-teaching staff) must organize a united front to rescue the education sector from perpetual decay, reflected in incessant strikes, mass failure, unproductive graduates, and ultimately, increasing crime rates.
by Niran VON
