Attack on DSM national office
Nigeria
Attack on DSM national office
On Saturday June 10, 2006 about 5 armed robbers attacked the National Secretariat (centre) of the Democratic Socialist Movement (DSM) at around 9pm while four DSM comrades, including a female member, and about 5 sympathisers were watching the Argentina-Cote d’Ivoire World Cup match.
The armed robbers, who were in their 20s, went away with five mobile phones and about N5, 000 (39 US$). Fortunately they did not go into our computer room, which has its own locked door, and so we did not lose any of our computer equipment.
However in the course of their operation the robbers inflicted minor injuries on both comrade Pelad and the Lagos State secretary of the National Conscience Party, Sina Odugbemi, who is a long standing supporter of the DSM. (Currently the DSM centre also houses as the Lagos state secretariat of the NCP).
The affected DSM comrades are Segun Sango, Pelad, Idris and Mary Pelacious.
Before coming to the centre, they had already robbed the hospital that shares the same building with us and carted away a laptop, mobile phones and some money from the hospital.
These armed robbers could be best described as hoodlums thrown up by socio-economic hardship, joblessness and excruciating poverty that have been defining feature of Nigeria but heightened by the anti-poor neo-liberal policies of President Obasanjo’s government. In the recent weeks there has been an increasing spate of armed robbery incidents in Lagos. In fact in the very last week two commercial banks were robbed in the city.
Since 1991 the DSM centre has been in this building and this is the first time we have experienced an armed robbery attack. The incident has however raised the need to put in place extra security measures for the entire building which could include hiring of security man and installation of some gadgets. The tenants in the building have begun discussion in that regards.
We would deeply appreciate any help in replacing the mobile phones and towards the costs of the extra security we will have to install. Click here to donate online. Gifts can be sent to either directly to the DSM office or, from outside Nigeria, to the Committee for a Workers’ International’s (CWI) office in London (PO Box 3688, London E11 1YE, Britain, email [email protected]). Additionally gifts could be sent to the offices of local CWI affiliates in different countries.