RISING ATTACKS ON DEMOCRATIC RIGHTS
By Adaramoye Michael Lenin
In an index compiled in 2024 by the World Human Rights and Rule of Law Index, Nigeria ranked 120 out of 140 countries, ‘scoring below average and falling behind military-ruled Niger, gang-plagued El Salvador and war-torn Ukraine’ (Fig.ng, 10, 12,2024). This clearly shows the magnitude of the attacks on democratic rights under the administration of Tinubu.
Behind these statistics are gory experiences of millions of victims of attacks on democratic rights and the intimidating routine collection of bribes by members of the state machinery. For instance, the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC), an agency of the government, reported receiving approximately 2 million human rights violation complaints. There are more cases of human rights and democratic rights abuse that have gone unreported, especially because of distrust in the institutions of government, like the NHRC, to address such cases. The NHRC did not furnish us with what became of those reported cases. The struggle against attacks on democratic rights can only be won through a consistent campaign, especially through mass struggle. This will involve young people and the working masses uniting to fight for a truly democratic society.
The attack on democratic rights mostly takes the form of a clampdown on protest, unlawful arrest and detention of voices of dissent, anti-free speech laws, among others. In the last two years, all these have been carried out with vicious energy by the administration of Tinubu. This is not surprising for a government that has almost completely lost its social base, with little or no support from the people. This is a direct consequence of the anti-people and neo-liberal policies of the administration ever since its emergence. Actually, Tinubu had little support to begin with. According to INEC he received 8, 794, 726 votes when he was officially declared the winner of 2023 election. That is a tiny proportion of Nigeria’s population which the IMF currently estimates to be over 233 million. In this situation it is no surprise that his regime attempts to crush opposition as quickly as possible.
Tinubu’s government has subjected the population to untold hardship and misery, quality of life has drastically reduced, with millions of Nigerians now thrown below the poverty line. According to the World Bank, the percentage of Nigerians living below the poverty line surged from 40.1% in 2018 to 56.0% in 2024, which accounts to 129 million Nigerians approximately. The Bureau of Statistics also reported that 63% of Nigerians are multidimensionally poor. Also, in late 2024, inflation escalated to 34.6%. This is why there is a general agreement that the government of Tinubu is a total failure, and there is a need for Nigerians to resist the attacks on their living conditions. In response to the people’s agitation are the vicious attacks on rights to protest, rights to free speech, and even attempts to clamp down on social media.
For instance, over 2000 persons including minors were incarcerated for about two months in police detention and prison in connection with #EndBadGovernance nationwide protest against mass hunger and economic hardship in August last year. Not done, Tinubu government has preferred trumped-up charges including treason which carries death penalty, before Federal High Court Abuja, against 11 #EndBadGovernance activists because, according to the police court paper, they carried placards with inscription: “End Bad Government”!
Also, in Lagos 22 activists including members of the #EndBadGovernance movement and Take it Back were victims of a violent clampdown by the Police on October 2024 during a demonstration to commemorate the fourth year of the EndSARS protest and the massacre of protesters in October 2020. In that regard, a lawsuit has been filed against the police for the wanton abuse of democratic rights. However, while this is a good step, activists must be prepared to mobilise working people and youth for a political battle to resist all attacks on democratic rights.
It is not a coincidence that the Sultan of Sokoto, Alhaji Muhammed Sa’aad Abubakar, recently declared social media a terrorist organization that must be dealt with. This shows that within the ruling class, there is a bitterness towards the role social media has played in recent mass protests in providing an avenue for mass mobilization of youth to the streets. Clearly, this is an agenda within the ruling class to come out heavily on social media. For instance, the Cybercrime Act has been a tool often deployed against activists, journalists, and any voice of dissent. This is why the struggle against attacks on democratic rights must be connected to the struggle against the anti-people policies of the Tinubu government and an overthrow of the capitalist system.
Under capitalism, a system that prioritizes the well-being and profit of a tiny minority over the needs of the mass majority, true democracy is impossible. It is a system that thrives on the brutal rule and domination of the majority by a few; therefore, real democracy in the sense of the mass of people truly ruling cannot be achieved. This is why activists fighting for democratic rights and a better society need to adopt the aim of establishing democratic control over the economy, and a state that is not in the hands of the current ruling class rules but is an instrument in the hands of the working people to improve their lot. In essence these are the clear ideas of Marxism as advocated for by the Democratic Socialist Movement (DSM).