The Socialist Workers League (SWL) received news of the brutal murder of Nurse Vivian Chilaka with a deep sense of grief and anger. Vivian Chilaka was a young nursing student whose life was violently cut short.
Her killing is not an isolated tragedy. It clearly puts the decaying Nigeria state in sharp relief once again. It is a painful expression of a failed state that continues to fail young people, women, and working-class communities across Nigeria.
Vivian Chilaka was more than a promising student; she represented the resilience of working people striving for dignity in a society that offers little protection in return. Having lost both parents, she carried the burden of survival and responsibility, excelling academically against all odds. Her brilliance, discipline, and determination speak to the untapped potential that exists among ordinary working people, potential that is too often crushed by violence, insecurity, and systemic neglect.
Her death must be understood not only as a criminal act but as part of a wider crisis. Across Nigeria, violence against women, students, and the poor continues to rise under conditions of deep inequality, unemployment, weakened public institutions, and a failing security system. When a society cannot guarantee the safety of its most vulnerable, it reveals a deeper failure of governance.
We thus strongly condemn this heinous killing. However, condemnation alone is not enough. Justice in this case must not be reduced to the arrest of individual perpetrators while the structural conditions that enable such violence remain intact.
Vivian Chilaka’s death must not become another statistic in a system where the lives of ordinary people are treated as expendable. Her story exposes a society where insecurity thrives alongside inequality, and where the burden of survival falls heavily on the most vulnerable.
Justice for Vivian is inseparable from the broader struggle for a society organized around the needs of the many, not the privilege of a few.
We stand in solidarity with her family, fellow students, and all victims of violence. We commit ourselves to the fight for justice, dignity, and a society where no life is cut short by preventable violence.
We demand:
- Immediate and transparent Investigation
- We demand a full, independent, and transparent investigation into the murder of Vivian Chilaka. The truth must not be hidden, manipulated, or delayed, and an end to Systemic Insecurity.
- We call on workers’ organizations, student movements, women’s groups, and civil society actors to build a united front against gender-based violence and social injustice.
Signed;
Kelvin AYEMHENREN
National Chairperson
Lekan Abdulazeez SONEYE (LAS)
Deputy National Secretary
