El-Rufai Government’s Handling Of Labour Demands In Kaduna Is Reckless— Group

A political coalition of citizens organisations and social movements, the Peoples Alternative Political Movement (TPAP-M), has condemned the response of the Kaduna state government to the strike action embarked upon by workers in Kaduna state against the mass sacks of workers.

 

In a statement jointly signed by Comrade Toye Olorode and Comrade Jaye Gaskia of the TPAP-M Secretariat, the group stated that the action of the Kaduna state government is representative of the impunity of the ruling class, describing it as a tragic manifestation of the governance failure foisted on the nation.

The group, which said it is committed to the emergence of a mass workers party and the Socialist Transformation of Nigeria, condemned the illegal declaration of the person of the National President of the NLC as a wanted person.

El-Rufai had on Tuesday declared Ayuba Wabba, president of the NLC and other members of the union wanted.

The governor in a tweet said the labour union leaders were declared wanted for “economic sabotage and attacks on public infrastructure under Miscellaneous Offences Act”.

SaharaReporters had earlier reported how hoodlums loyal to Governor Nasir El-Rufai disrupted the peaceful protest embarked upon by the NLC in Kaduna state.

A source said while the protest was going on in Kaduna on Tuesday, some suspected thugs in different vehicles, started stoning the protesters.

A statement by the group partly read, “We are alarmed by the unprecedented recklessness of the Kaduna state government in its response to the legitimate and justified strike of workers in Kaduna state against the mass sacks of workers and massive attacks on the conditions of work and living of the workers and popular masses.

“We condemn in unequivocal terms the disgraceful actions of the El-Rufai-led government of Kaduna state, against the workers and working peoples of the state; we reject and condemn the purported illegal declaration of the person of the National President of the NLC as a wanted person. We condemn the mobilisation of alienated, disillusioned, and hungry youths as thugs to attack workers’ peaceful processions in the state.

“This action of the Kaduna state government, which is representative of the impunity of this incompetent ruining ruling class is a tragic manifestation of the governance failure foisted on our nation.

“A government and ruling class whose policies, actions and inactions is responsible for the impoverishment and deprivations faced by the youth, turns round to mobilise and pay them pittance to send them on deadly missions as thugs to attack legitimate gatherings of working peoples.

“This proves positive that for this ruling class, workers are mere cogs in the wheel of their rapacious greed, and that young persons are only good to be used as thugs! We declare our unwavering solidarity with the workers of Kaduna state, with the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), and the wider labour movement.

“We urge that we continue to wage this battle until victory is assured. We call on all freedom-loving citizens and Nigerians, to support, and mobilise active solidarity with the Kaduna workers. This active strike must continue, and we must not allow our forces to be divided, nor must we allow the suppression of our collective actions.

“Any government that sees workers as nuisances, and civil and public servants as dispensable, clearly lacks even the smallest understanding of governance. No wonder the ruling class, in general, has made a mess of governance and brought our nation to the brink of precipitous collapse, with rampaging insecurity, unleashed mass misery, deepening poverty, and unprecedented levels of rising unemployment.

“While we must remain focused and determined in this current struggle to ensure that workers win in Kaduna state, we must realise that the ultimate solution to the problem of governance vacuum and ruling class leadership failure, lies in the political terrain, and will require that the working class, the labouring masses and their allies enter consciously, decisively, and massively unto the political arena, contest political power with the ruling class, and take political power, and utilise it in the interest of the popular masses and the working peoples.

“As we urge unwavering solidarity with the Kaduna workers and the NLC, we also call on all workers and working people in Nigeria to come and join with us to build The Peoples Alternative Political Movement (TPAP-M), as we organise politically and mount a concerted, deliberate, principled and ideological challenge for political power in the country.

“We also note the growing intolerance of the state at all levels; we equally note that the identities of the demographics and patterns of anti-NLC attack and the attacks on the #EndSARS protests are similar – deprived and alienated youth, among others!”