The United States’ government issued a series of statements indicating plans to invade Nigerian, over the last week. According to its war mongering president, Mr Donald Trump, this is meant to put a stop to what he described as the “persecution of Christians”. It is evident that the state of insecurity in Nigeria is overwhelming the ruling class which has failed to protect the lives and properties of Nigerians in every part of the country. At an astounding rate, villages are ransacked, people killed, injured and in many cases displaced from their homes if they are lucky enough to survive without being kidnapped. This is the condition under which working-class people exist today in Nigeria. The specific manner this generalised state of insecurity is manifested in each of the six regions of the country takes different dimensions.
The weaponisation of “Christian Genocide in Nigeria” by the imperialist United States’ government as a pretext to invade the country is intentionally deployed to further deepen the religious divide in the country, whilst diverting attention from the underlying systemic failure at the heart of the bloodletting. This is a tactic which the capitalist politicians in Nigeria usually use as well. They deploy ethnicity or religion to play their politics of divide and rule so as to exercise hegemony over the working people. The United States has found an opportunity in using the religious conflict to gain support from sections of the poor working people who might not see the wolf in its sheep’s clothing. However, history and current reality of the US’ imperialist politics show that their real aim is more self-serving, and if they do carry out their threat and invade, the poor masses of Nigeria and our land, will be left worse off.
In every nation the government of the US has invaded or rather as mildly put, perform its intervention role under the guise of restoring peace, what is usually left is ruin, perpetual conflict, dehumanisation of indigenous people of the land and illegal exploitation of their natural resources. From Afghanistan to Iraq to Libya to Sudan, what we have seen from all of these are the usurpation of the right to self-determination and sovereignty of these countries on one hand and the reinforced exploitation of working-class people and natural resources on the other.
Currently, the Trump-led US government is committing some of the most brutal policies against black and brown immigrants and citizens in the United States, without regards for human rights. These policies do not have special treatment for the working class or poor immigrant Christians. Hence, it is laughable that such a government, which has made life harder for the working people in the US is interested in protecting Christians or any other population of people in Nigeria.
Sadly but not disappointingly, the APC government of President Bola Tinubu has rolled out the usual tactics of propaganda rather than address the root causes of insecurity in the country. The regime continues to lie to the Nigerian people that it is now performing some security miracles after several months of denying the retrogression of the Nigerian security system since it came to power in May 2023. The government, like that of its predecessor, continues to pamper bandits and terrorists through backdoor ransom payments to kidnappers, pardoning of captured bandits and rehabilitation of terrorists with taxes paid by poor Nigerians who are victims of these state and non-state violent groups. These approaches indict the government. Yet the same government that has failed to identify the hideout of these over 30,000 terrorists and bandit groups in Nigerian is always quick to send state police to intimidate, arrest and illegally detain people who dare to call out its misrule.
Insecurity in Nigeria is fuelled by the socio-economic crisis that has impoverished many Nigerians and made a significant number of young people from poor working-class and peasant backgrounds vulnerable to recruitment by these violent armed groups. Tinubu and the ruling class he represents whose system have made education inaccessible for over 20 million out-of-school children and unaffordable for hundreds of thousands of young Nigerians, clearly do not mean well for the future of working-class people in the country. It is abundantly clear that these millions of out-of-school children and several thousands who cannot afford tertiary education are awaiting disaster. Unemployment is high, even for those who manage to go to school, including graduates. Yet the natural resources of the country keeps being plundered by a handful of people, whilst the vast majority of the population live in abject poverty.
We as SWL totally reject the imperialist invasive intention of the United States. This however does not translate to a support for the government of the APC or any other party of the ruling class. They are all part of the problem. Thus, we call on working-class people across the country to unite against both the imperialist United States’ government of Donald Trump and the local ruling class led by Bola Tinubu. Only under a system governed by the self-liberated 99% of Nigerians who belong to the oppressed, exploited and unsecured classes can our lives, properties and socioeconomic safety, as poor working people, be guaranteed.
Sgd
Jamiu TOWOLAWI
National Chairperson
Sgd
Amara NWOSU
National Secretary
