Democratic Socialist Movement

For Struggle, Solidarity and Socialism in Nigeria

By - DSM

2023 PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION REFLECTS A MOOD OF MASS DISENCHANTMENT

  • Trade unions, working people and youth must prepare for struggle

Bola Tinubu of the ruling All Progressives’ Congress (APC), was declared the winner of Nigeria’s presidential election held on February 25, 2023. However, it is instructive that a whopping 63 percent of the few who chose to vote, cast their vote against him.

By Peluola Adeware

Tinubu had about 8.8 million votes, 37 percent of the total votes cast in the election. Only 27 percent of the registered voters turned out to vote in the election, a sharp decline from the 2019 figure of 35 percent and the lowest in the Fourth Republic’s history. Indeed, this means that Tinubu was elected by less than 10 percent of those who have a Permanent Voters’ Card. Essentially, Tinubu will rule with an abjectly minority government which can, sooner or later, be faced with crises and mass opposition.

LOW TURNOUT

The low turnout shows mass disenchantment in the electoral process. Even in Anambra, the home state of Peter Obi, who was presented as the best among the capitalist candidates in local and international media, and won support from sections of urban youth and middle-class people, the turnout was 24 percent, less than the national average.

Obi’s slogan of moving Nigeria from a consumption economy to a productive one resonated with layers of the masses while his seemingly austere life in comparison with others was also a factor. But the masses did not overlook his commitment to the pursuit of capitalist programmes which ultimately would translate into attacks on the working class and the poor.

Another factor that may have contributed to the low turnout was the social and economic dislocation caused by the cash scarcity crisis arising from the sudden change of the national currency by the Central Bank acting on President Buhari’s directive. Many Nigerians who habitually travel to their voting areas were unable to do so while some just felt disgusted by the hardship and decided to stay home.

LAGOS

Despite winning the presidential election, Tinubu lost in Lagos, the state where he holds a fierce political grip and is considered the lord of the manor. While Peter Obi who won the state has a mass base among Igbo people, his votes significantly cut across all the ethnic groups in Lagos, including Yoruba, who are all victims of bad governance and super exploitation by the APC state government.

The DSM condemned the ethnic hate and vote suppression against Igbo people during the subsequent governorship election in Lagos, something which was promoted by the APC in their desperation to win. Working people and youth must reject any attempt of the reactionary forces, including opportunistic capitalist politicians, to instigate ethnic tension or violence in the coming period.

Obi’s victory in Lagos on the platform of a Labour Party (LP) is significant for a number of reasons. Lagos is not just the economic hub of Nigeria; it is the home of the majority of the organised working class and urban middle class. It was also the main theatre of the EndSARS youth revolt three years ago.

UNRESOLVED NATIONAL QUESTION

However, outside cosmopolitan Lagos, and a few other states, the result of the election showed an ethnic and religious pattern. This shows how different sections of capitalist elites exploit ethnic and religious divisions accentuated by the unresolved national question to win support on sectarian basis for their own self-serving interests.

FLAWED ELECTION

The election was characterized by irregularities and pockets of violence. The leading opposition candidates – Atiku Abubakar of the former ruling PDP and Peter Obi of the LP have rejected the results alleging rigging and manipulation by the APC and National Electoral Commission (INEC). We condemn rigging, violence, vote buying and other irregularities in this election. However, we hold that in reality, the electoral process was rigged in favour of leading capitalist parties at the expense of radical parties which could genuinely represent the aspirations of working people and youth like African Action Congress (AAC) which participated in this election and the Socialist Party of Nigeria which has been undemocratically deregistered. Moreover, the process and outcome of this election has further underscored the incapacity of system of capitalism, especially in a neo-colonial country like Nigeria with a backward and parasitic ruling elite, to guarantee a free and fair election.

SOWORE AND OBI

During the campaign we in the DSM, while sympathizing with those who expressed their opposition to the capitalist establishment by supporting Obi, did not call a vote for him. Given his history as a former PDP state governor who joined the LP just in time to be elected its presidential candidate and his consistent pro-capitalist policies, Obi was not a real ‘friend’ of Labour. Instead, we critically supported and called for a vote for Omoyele Sowore of the AAC who put forward elements of the socialist programme needed to transform Nigeria.

Of the two, Sowore had a pro-working people programme that began to address the systemic crisis Nigeria faces. However, we do not dismiss the effect that Obi’s limited critique of corruption and anti-establishment rhetoric had both before and during the elections. The electoral turn of sections of urban youth and layers of the working people towards Obi shows the masses burning desire for a transformative change after eight years of Buhari’s failed regime. That a pro-capitalist Obi, and a Labour Party without real workers’ membership, has managed to become a symbol of this change-seeking mood is another testament to the complicated, yet revolutionary, potential of the situation.

In the aftermath of the election, many who pinned the hope of transforming Nigeria on Obi are now sad, angry and resentful. Some young people who have the means are considering fleeing the country while those who have no means contemplate with dread the prospect of spending the next four to eight years under a Tinubu government.

That Sowore could officially have a modest total of over 14,000 votes, in the face of electoral irregularities, is a positive development. This is a number of voters who rejected every shade of establishment candidates including Obi, and were attracted to a radical and left programme put forward by Sowore. This number will grow as the Tinubu government unleashes capitalist attacks in the face of an already terrible economic situation.

RESIST TINUBU’S ANTI-POOR POLICIES

The NLC and TUC, working people, youth and pro-masses’ organisations have to be prepared to resist the anti-poor economic policies Tinubu has pledged to implement. These include increasing the petrol price, under the guise of deregulation or scrapping the so-called subsidy, and devaluation of Naira ostensibly to close the gap between official and black-market rates.

Tinubu also plans to impose higher tuition fees and introduce a student loan scheme ostensibly to tackle the crisis of funding of public universities and perennial workers’ strikes. This must resisted by students, working people and trade unions as it will deny children from working class and poor background access to university education or burden them with a lifelong albatross of debt.

Most importantly, such a struggle against Tinubu’s anti-poor capitalist plan, which both Atiku and Obi also fundamentally subscribe to, has to be linked with building of mass working people’s party on a socialist programme. We call for a conference involving NLC, TUC, individual trade unions, left coalitions, left parties and socialist organizations to discuss the country’s crises and how to respond, including discussing the building of such a party or the possibility of rebuilding and democratising the Labour Party with a view of transforming it into a genuine, democratically run, mass workers’ party.

FIGHT FOR SOCIALIST CHANGE

Stormy times are ahead. All classes and ages in Nigeria are fearful of the future. Widespread poverty, mass unemployment, inflation and absence of basic infrastructure characterise Nigeria’s situation. The DSM is not alone in seeing the many crises afflicting Nigeria but we have confidence in the ability of most Nigerians, especially the workers and youth, to struggle to both win improvements now and to support the idea of socialist change to get rid of the capitalist system that is both blocking Nigeria’s development and threatening the world’s future.