The Campaign for the Socialist Transformation of Nigeria (CAST-Nigeria) has called on Nigerian masses, particularly the youth to begin to organise themselves into a force for resistance against oppressive policies after the general elections.
CAST-Nigeria in a statement there is the need for the masses and youth to be vigilant in the face of prevailing hardships forced on them via inhuman economic and social policies “to organise, to resist, and to use this opportunity and experience to prepare for the coming battles after the elections, and under the post-General Elections government.”
The statement, e-signed by Prof. Omotoye Olorode and Comrade Jaye Gaskia, Chair and National Coordinator respectively of CAST-Nigeria Campaign Organisation, noted that there is justifiable anger of working class people and youth all across Nigeria.
“We encourage the toiling masses and youth to continue to build up their resistance to hardships via consistent and solid organizing in communities and workplaces,” CAST-Nigeria as it urged the toiling masses and youth “to take their own destinies into their own hands.”
“We repeat our admonition that the resistance must organise themselves, in workplaces, in neighbourhoods, and in communities, in a manner that ensures their safety, and prevents and discourages the brutality of government/state response, and autonomously of the different factions of the ruling class.
“The masses and youth have the right to organise in their own interests, under their own banners, independent of the banners of the various ruling class parties and factions, and they have the right to organise in a manner that enables them to repel government/state repression, and prevent brutality police and other agencies of repression.
“In all of these, it is important to point out that the current crisis is a direct product of the failure of the capitalist system, and that the outcome of the 2023 so-called General Elections will, in no way, make the resolution of the crisis possible, either in the short or in the long term.
“In this regard, the upcoming elections are merely a distraction, an attempt by the ruling class to merely change leadership to a new looting gang of the capitalist system.
“This is why we stand on the call for the masses and you to be vigilant, to organise, to resist, and to use this opportunity and experience to prepare for the coming battles after the elections, and under the post-General Elections government,” the statement further reads.
The statement, entitled “Nigeria in the Throes of Permanent Crisis,” reads in full;
The Campaign for the Socialist Transformation of Nigeria (CAST-NIGERIA) has been conceived by The People’s Alternative Political Movement (TPAP-M) to make a case for Socialism and raise the banner of Socialism in Nigeria. The Campaign was launched on the 3rd of October 2022.
In the course of the last year, and in particular over the last few weeks, Nigeria has been thrown into a spiral of never-ending crisis.
This situation, precarious for the overwhelming majority of the working people and youth, continues to deepen, and is becoming more intense in recent times.
The increasingly unbearable cost of living crisis, aided by the endemic insecurity, is now being compounded by the contrived crisis of fuel and currency scarcity, which together are combining to erode the ability of ordinary citizens to make ends meet, feed themselves and their families, operate and run their businesses, and escape starvation and intolerable hardship.
Yet, it is important to make it clear that the current situation is the creation of the failure of the capitalist system in general, and of the failure of leadership of the Nigerian ruling class in particular.
The current expression of the existential crisis, in the form of fuel scarcity and unaffordable energy costs, along with the inability to undertake even the most simple and basic of transactions due to scarcity of cash and epileptic nature of service to power digital payment platforms, have been grossly compounded by the infighting within the ruling class, with each faction deploying the segments of the state they have some leverage over. This infighting can only be best described as a war among thieves.
The consequence of this political war, notwithstanding the embedded negotiations and horse trading among the elites, has been the increased burden of hardships on the working people.
But, where there’s hardship and oppression, there will most likely also be resistance.
This is why we understand the anger of the working people and youths, and are in full support of unfolding acts of active mass resistance to the hardships imposed on the people by the ruling class.
All across Nigeria, the anger of the working people and youth is justifiably boiling over.
We encourage the toiling masses and youth to continue to build up their resistance to hardships via consistent and solid organizing in communities and workplaces.
The toiling masses and youth are beginning to take their own destinies into their own hands.
We repeat our admonition that the resistance must organise themselves, in workplaces, in neighbourhoods, and in communities, in a manner that ensures their safety, and prevents and discourages the brutality of government/state response, and autonomously of the different factions of the ruling class.
The masses and youth have the right to organise in their own interests, under their own banners, independent of the banners of the various ruling class parties and factions, and they have the right to organise in a manner that enables them to repel government/state repression, and prevent brutality police and other agencies of repression.
In all of these, it is important to point out that the current crisis is a direct product of the failure of the capitalist system, and that the outcome of the 2023 so-called General Elections will, in no way, make the resolution of the crisis possible, either in the short or in the long term.
In this regard, the upcoming elections are merely a distraction, an attempt by the ruling class to merely change leadership to a new looting gang of the capitalist system.
This is why we stand on the call for the masses and you to be vigilant, to organise, to resist, and to use this opportunity and experience to prepare for the coming battles after the elections, and under the post-General Elections government.
In conclusion, as we encourage the working people and youth to organize and resist in their own interests, and under their own banners; we unequivocally condemn the high-handed character of state response to the growing unrest and mass resistance which are continually forced on our people via inhuman economic and social policies.
We hold the state and its operatives, and indeed the ruling class as a whole, responsible for every fatality, and every harm or injury; and we must pledge ourselves to ensuring that this impunity, this time, will not go unpunished.
Organise Now! Mobilise Now!! Act Now!!!
