SPN Condemns Horrific Massacre of Workers in Borno

HORRIFIC MASSACRE OF AT LEAST 43 FARMERS IN BORNO STATE FURTHER SHOWS THE PRESIDENT BUHARI APC-LED FEDERAL GOVERNMENT HAS FAILED WOEFULLY IN TACKLING INSECURITY

SPN COMMISERATES WITH FAMILIES OF THOSE SLAINED AND INJURED; CALLS FOR DEMOCRATIC AND NON-SECTARIAN COMMUNAL SELF DEFENSE

The Socialist Party of Nigeria (SPN) commiserates with the families of the farmers brutally killed and many others injured or missing following a deadly attack, allegedly by Boko Haram terrorists, while working on rice farms in Koshobe, Borno State. While according to the residents, the number of farmers killed was at least 43 as many others were yet to be accounted for, the resident coordinator of UN refuge agency in Nigeria, Edward Kallon, said the death toll from the attack could be as high as 110.

This gory incident is another shocking reminder that, aside from its failures in fighting corruption and ending poverty, President Muhammadu Buhari government has equally failed in the fight against insurgency and insecurity. According to a Premium Times report, across Nigeria, at least 86 people lost their lives in the last one week due to violent attacks while nine people were kidnapped. This shows that almost all parts of Nigeria, not just the North East, are a killing field today.

A few years ago, the government had declared Boko Haram “technically defeated”. This horrific massacre, just like numerous others, has put a lie to this declaration. Even the Governor of Borno State who ought to be the most secured citizen in the State has had his convoy brutally attacked on at least two occasions by the terrorist group with many of his men in the entourage killed or maimed.

In this situation where the government has completely lost the capacity to protect lives, the people themselves, especially working people, farmers and youth, have to take their destinies in their hands. Hence, the SPN calls for the setting up of independent, democratic and non-sectarian communal defence committees to protect villages, farms and communities from attacks by Boko Haram, bandits and extortion and repression by soldiers.

Many have called for the sack or replacement of the service chiefs as a solution. While we support the call, for us in the SPN, even if this is done, no serious progress would still be recorded in the fight against insurgency. This is because the problem goes beyond the service chiefs who obviously are corrupt, inept and making billions from the war. The government itself being a corrupt capitalist government based on exploitation is unable to aggressively and decisively tackle mass poverty, lack of basic infrastructure, lack of access to western formal education and opportunities – all conditions which though are prevalent in all parts of the country are however more widespread and endemic in the North East.

Without ending social and economic inequality as well as state repression, insurgency and insecurity cannot be defeated. Unfortunately, the ruling All Progressive Congress (APC), the opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and other bourgeois political parties are not committed to ending social inequality and poverty. Instead, the capitalist philosophy and programmes which the ruling parties stand for, deepens inequality, increases poverty and helps, alongside the unresolved national question, create conditions which drive criminality and insurgency.

Only the kind of programme which the SPN stands for, of putting the key sectors of the economy under democratic workers control and management and implementing a socialist plan to rid society of hunger, homelessness, joblessness and destitution and also provide other basic needs such as free, quality mass education and health care can alongside respect for democratic rights of minorities ensure an equitable and peaceful Nigeria devoid of such wanton and brutal killings which are a daily occurrence under capitalism.

Abiodun Bamigboye                                                             Chinedu Bosah

Acting National Chairperson                                                  National Secretary

Website: www.socialistpartyofnigeria.org.ng

E-mail: [email protected]