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Election farce brews new Nigerian storms
INTERNATIONALLY, A veil of silence has fallen over
the blatant rigging of April’s elections in Nigeria, whose 140 million
people are a quarter of Sub-Saharan Africa’s population. During the
‘voting’ and immediately afterwards international observers and
journalists extensively wrote about a stolen ‘election’ ‘without
credibility’. Example after example was given of the extent and
mechanisms of this robbery ranging from falsification of the voters’
register to stolen ballots to made up ‘results’.
The Economist report, Big Men, Big Fraud and Big
Trouble (28 April), gave the following account: "On the day of
the presidential election money-politics could be seen in action in
central Kano, the dusty, dilapidated industrial capital of the north.
There, in the local government area of Fagge, the PDP [Peoples
Democratic Party of outgoing president Obasanjo] had budgeted 35m naira
for political ‘mobilisation’ and the main opposition party, the All
Nigerian Peoples’ Party (ANPP), 40m naira. In one ward, Fagge A, the PDP,
according to one of its operatives, had budgeted 594,000 naira ($4,650)
for 21,000 registered voters and 35 ballot boxes. Thus each
‘independent’ presiding officer at the polling station was given 3,000
naira and his clerk 2,000 naira. Each policeman was getting 1,000 naira.
That left payments of about 200 naira ($1.57) per voter – whose votes,
far from being secret, were inked with a thumb on the ballot in front of
party agents. Multiple voters, who will have registered several times
with sympathetic election officials, might vote ten times, at a reduced
bulk rate of 100 naira – still picking up a tidy 1,000 naira each".
All the major parties were involved in rigging in
different parts of the country. But then in May the major international
critics fell silent. The Nigerian government was not threatened with any
penalties. Government leaders did not have their bank accounts frozen or
their ability to travel curtailed. No, it was business as usual as far
as the major imperialist powers and the multinationals were concerned.
And that is precisely the point. The gang of looters running Nigeria are
fine business partners and, so long as they can retain control,
imperialism is more than happy to do business with them.
Within Nigeria the election farce has only deepened
the bitterness of the masses. Since the end of the last period of
military rule in 1999 there has been a massive increase in Nigeria’s
income from oil exports – $71.12 billion from 2002-06. But the masses
have seen hardly anything. Last year, the now disgraced World Bank
president, Paul Wolfowitz, stated that about $300 billion of its oil
wealth had been stolen from Nigeria in the last four decades. (This Day,
Lagos, 17 October 2006)
An article in Vanguard, Lagos, summed up the balance
sheet since 1999, eight years in which the government has received more
revenue from crude oil than all previous governments since crude was
discovered in export quantities. Yet, "Power supply remains epileptic,
roads are generally in poor condition, and there is still no significant
rise in employment". (13 May) Much of Nigeria’s foreign debt has been
paid off, there has been a huge rise in Nigeria’s foreign reserves, but:
"Unemployment: 28-32%, manufacturing capacity utilisation: 52%; interest
rates: 25% to 30%; percent living in poverty from 70% in 1999 to 65%
(estimate) in 2007". The only real change has been the boom in mobile
phones, with now 38 million subscribers compared with only 500,000 in
1999.
April’s elections are linked to this looting of the
oil income. For the elite, elections are called a ‘do-or-die’ affair as
they viciously fight to gain positions in the state from which they can
loot by stealing or awarding fraudulent contracts. Rivers State, in the
heart of Nigeria’s main oil producing region, is an extreme example. In
2006, the state governor’s daily travel budget was $65,000. On top of
this, $38.4 million was spent on two helicopters and landing facilities,
compared to $21.5 million on health care. The governor also had a very
generous budget of $10 million for ‘entertainment, hospitality, gifts
and souvenirs for visitors to government house’.
Nigeria’s working masses are aware of this; it was
one of the main factors behind the seven general strikes and mass
protests that shook the country from 2002-05. But, with the labour
leaders unwilling to oust the robber regime, nothing fundamentally
changed as these protests did not have the concrete aim of changing the
system.
In the run-up to April’s elections, the labour
leaders played a similar role, refusing to help create a working-class
political challenge to the rival gangs within the ruling elite, despite
the fact that previously they had registered the Labour Party. Just
before the elections the most prominent union leader, Adams Oshiomhole,
announced he would stand as Labour candidate for the governorship of Edo
State. Although previously calling on Oshiomhole to run as a workers’
candidate for the presidency, the DSM (Democratic Socialist Movement –
CWI, Nigeria) said that this would be a partial step forward. Then
Oshiomhole announced he would stand for the Action Congress, a
capitalist opposition party. This cut off any prospect of the Labour
Party becoming a focal point for workers’ opposition, something that was
reinforced when a succession of capitalist politicians joined Labour
immediately after losing nomination competitions in their previous
parties.
Since the so-called elections the Nigerian trade
unions have, at last, started to move into action, but in a very
hesitant manner. The union leaders are not clear what they are calling
for. Sometimes they argue for completely new elections, sometimes for a
partial rerun, and they do not yet propose any action that could prevent
a repeat of the rigging. Now LASCO (the Labour and Civil Society
Coalition), an alliance of trade unions, political and civil rights
groups, has called a ‘stay at home’ protest against the election rigging
and to demand, among other points, a 15% wage rise and payment of wage
arrears to federal workers. This is scheduled to take place on 28-29
May, the day before and the day of the inauguration of the new
president, Yar’Adua.
The huge anger that exists among the Nigerian
working masses and poor could give a mass content to these protests and
show their hatred of the rulers who rob the country of its wealth and
democratic rights. But for many workers and youth the key question will
be, what is the alternative? Do they want to risk their lives simply to
see one gang of looters replaced by a rival one?
The DSM, an important part of LASCO, has long been
striving to build support for its position that "to utilise the
inexhaustible natural and human resources possessed by the country to
better the lot of the vast majority of its people, there is an absolute
necessity to end the political rule of capitalist exploiters and all
shades of political usurpers once and for all. Only a truly workers’ and
poor peasants’ government built on a democratic socialist foundation can
lay a basis for actualisation of this goal…
"Previous movements revealed the working masses’
preparedness and determination to change their political and economic
lot for the better. Most unfortunately however, a truly masses’
political platform, programme and strategy was always missing. In order
to break the vicious cycle of mass misery and political repression
permanently ravaging the masses, the DSM advocates the immediate
creation/formation of an independent mass working people’s party that is
scientifically equipped with programmes and strategies of a socialist
revolution to dislodge capitalist elements from power".
"Nonetheless, the DSM will work to help make the
two-day mass action fixed for May 28 and 29 a great success. We
therefore call on all working class elements and youths to mobilise at
their workplaces, neighbourhood and communities for peaceful mass
protest, rallies and all other legitimate acts of civil disobedience in
order to ensure a resounding success of the proposed two-day mass
actions. At the same time, we argue that this struggle is seen as a
preparation for the next steps, including a general strike, necessary to
win genuine democratic rights, chase out the looters and break with this
rotten system". (DSM leaflet, 21 May)
Even if Yar’Adua comes into office on 29 May, his
four-year term is not guaranteed. The country is in turmoil with rising
anger everywhere and a growing insurgency in the oil producing areas.
This is in a situation where between 1999 and 2004 an estimated 10,000
Nigerians died and one million became internal refugees due to communal
clashes and state repression. In Plateau State, over 200,000 fled
fighting between February and March 2004. The key issue is whether the
workers’ movement can use its power and potential support to show a way
out. Without such a liberation a grim future awaits.
Robert Bechert
For the full text of the leaflet quoted above and other material log
on to the DSM website:
www.socialistnigeria.org
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