PRESS STATEMENT: THE AFRICAN ACTION CONGRESS, OGUN STATE DISTANCES ITSELF FROM THE IPAC ENDORSEMENT SEEKING TO RE-ELECT GOVERNOR DAPO ABIODUN

PRESS STATEMENT: THE AFRICAN ACTION CONGRESS, OGUN STATE DISTANCES ITSELF FROM THE IPAC ENDORSEMENT SEEKING TO RE-ELECT GOVERNOR DAPO ABIODUN

Our attention has been drawn to a post believed to be a press release emanating from the intra-party advisory council (IPAC) in Ogun state, wherein some elements endorsed the Governor for re-election.

We want to state unequivocally that the African Action Congress (AAC) is not part of such charade, as a separate party or as a member of IPAC. Our party is distinct in ideology and principles and would not endorse a Governor that does not represent any pro-people agenda.

 

Dapo Abiodun is one Governor who should be apologizing to Ogun state citizens and not campaigning. This is why we find it ridiculous that an advisory council who should actually act as a constellation of major opposing voices, would have anything to do with meeting the Governor, let alone endorsing him for re-election.

 

From dishing out crumbs as governance and littering the states with half-completed projects yet launched , the “contract percentage” Governor has failed woefully to deliver good governance to the people and should not be rewarded with another term.

 

The AAC seizes this medium to restate its commitment to stay the course and to assure the good people of Ogun State that help is on the way. Our candidate remains the indefatigable Mr HARRISON ADEYEMI and we urge every electorate who is tired of the misgovernance of Mr Dapo’s 4 ruinous years to vote the AAC.

Liberty is on the ballot.

 

Signed:

Ogundimu Aishat

 

State Publicity Secretary,

African Action Congress

 

Adesina Afolabi

State Chairman,

African Action Congress.

 

2/3/2023

Rich history of the AAC. Building a revolutionary party. Perspectives by Baba Aye

Rich history of the AAC. Building a revolutionary party. Perspectives by Baba Aye

African Action Congress (AAC) was registered as a political party by Nigeria’s Independent National Electoral Commission two years ago. From its radical roots it set itself apart as a platform for the struggle of the popular masses within and beyond the electoral sphere of politics. It has flourished unapologetically into a party for revolution. The AAC’s immediate fount and its scaffold to date is the Take It Back (TIB) movement, founded in the beginning of 2018. It has inspired tens of thousands of young working-class and professional/middle-class people across the length and breadth of the country and indeed globally among the Nigerian diaspora. This movement’s alliance with revolutionary socialist groups gave birth to the Coalition for Revolution (CORE) and the launch of its #RevolutionNow campaign.

The birth of the party

The Take It Back movement emerged at the beginning of 2018 in the contradictory context of radical politics in Nigeria. The world, as I pointed out while looking at the soil from which TIB/AAC germinated in an earlier article, had changed since the Great Recession of 2007-2009. The status quo’s hegemony or apparent legitimacy was fractured. Beyond Nigeria, mass movements spread across the world were bursting out as revolts, and in the Middle East and North Africa region, revolutions threw hitherto invincible dictators into the trashcan of history.

The “Occupy Nigeria” uprising in January 2012 was part of that moment of global rising. But the tragedy of the radical movement is that unlike the situation in many other countries this did not translate into organization to take the fire forward for deepening popular struggle in an anti-systemic manner. Four years after “Occupy Nigeria”, you could still put all self-avowed revolutionaries in the country into a molue (long bus) and still have to pe ‘ro s’oko (call in passengers to fill empty seats).

This partly accounted for an equally bankrupt party of the one percenters emerging as the apostle of “change” to steal power from the People’s Democratic Party (PDP), which had held the reins of government for 16 years and that felt it would for 44 more years. The All People’s Congress victory in 2015 spoke more to the failure of a credible revolutionary party’s emergence from the flames of Occupy Nigeria than to the resilience of a fortified bourgeois opposition at the time.

The seething mass anger, which burst out in 2012, continued to bubble below the surface like a dormant volcano, and the reality of the “change” party being nothing but one of “all promises cancelled” dawned on people within a few years of the APC coming into power. These combined to kindle the interest of a broader swathe of forces and persons in the 2019 elections than in any before this century. These included not a few (self-avowed revolutionaries and middle-class careerists alike) that take mobilization to win power only as seriously as they take watching Tom and Jerry on television. There were also quite a few who really did seriously think that they were taking power seriously.

Between March 2018 and the elections in February 2019, the TIB movement and the AAC organized no less than 500 political events across virtually every state in the federation, as well as 15 countries spread over all the regions of the world. Most of these had packed halls, with many people having to stand up or peer in from the window due to limited space. Unlike the rented crowds that the big—and of course bourgeois—parties, which alone could also amass followings of any significance, these were Nigerians who rather paid their way to the activities and were happy to support what they saw as a serious alternative project. The core message of the movement was clear: we need much more fundamental change than any of the parties involved in serious politics thus far could offer. And we are not going to get that on our knees. We will fight and win our liberation on the streets as much, if not more than, through the ballot.

Mass mobilization, including with the use of new information and communication technologies, went hand in hand with the establishment of movement or party structures. Inspired Nigerians of all walks of life at home and in the diaspora saw and became part of a movement that offered much more than they had dared hope for, even as much as they yearned for it. They chipped in their bits to sustain the hurricane.

The party raised 157,884,938 Naira (about US$408,000) as donations—most of these very small donations from tens of thousands of people. Never since the period of parties like the Action Group (AG) and Northern Elements Progressive Union (NEPU) had any political party raised such kind of money from “inconsequential” Nigerians. This is noteworthy, particularly for the mischievous, such as Adams Oshiomhole (a former trade unionist, governor of Edo State and national chairperson of AOPC), who try to reduce #RevolutionNow to a post-election afterthought.

The truth is that even during the electoral campaign the AAC did not reduce its politics to one of simply canvassing for votes. The party was on the streets organizing demonstrations for press freedom, extension of voter registration, and against demolitions of informal settlements. The ruling class was conscious of the problem that AAC constituted to them and they took action to suppress the party. As early as December 2018, five of its activists were arrested while pasting campaign posters in Lagos. They were charged with defacing other parties’ posters, even though this was demonstrably false. The state was sending out a clear message that it would not tolerate revolutionaries.

By the end of 2018, the TIB formed a coalition with the Alliance for the Masses Political Alternative (AMPA), which was coming together of Socialist Workers & Youth League (SWL) and Socialist Vanguard Tendency (SVT). The two groups had worked within the National Conscience Party (NCP) for a few years as the NCP Socialist Forum (NSF). The TIB had favored the NCP among myriad parties it held discussions with on which to float its electoral bid. The treacherous collapse of the NCP bureaucracy into an alliance with the PDP made real this possibility. Taking a principled stand, the two groups constituting the NSF pulled out of that party to form AMPA, which later brought on several other groups. The TIB-AMPA Coalition would later become known as the Coalition for Revolution—CORE.

After the elections, TIB/AAC-AMPA played a critical role in building resistance to wildly inflated power bills and epileptic power supply in working-class communities. Its activists, as part of CORE were also at the barricades in solidarity with rank and file workers during struggles, such as those of non-academic staff at Lagos State Polytechnic.

As radicalization of the party deepened in the immediate post-election period, the right-wing of the party played its hand as Esau for the Jacob of the state. The illegitimate splinter group that emerged under Leonard Ezenwa, the AAC national secretary before his suspension, was proclaimed to be representative of the party in a questionable court ruling in July. But even as the legal battle rages, the facts on the ground have made it tedious, if not outrightly impossible, for the state to stick to the fairy tale of an Ezenwa-led AAC.

The actuality of #RevolutionNow

The  CORE’s launch of the #RevolutionNow campaign on August 5, 2019 was a milestone in the development of AAC and the history of Nigeria. It went beyond the 1948 Zikist Movement’s “A Call for Revolution,” to demanding “Revolution Now!” on the streets. On the launch day, a record five million people in the country searched the word “revolution” online. The movement thus placed revolution as a popular question in the minds of many more Nigerians than the left groupuscules preaching to the choir had done in decades.

Alas, the state repression was swift and brutal. Party chair, Omoyele Sowore, was arrested on the eve of the nationwide protest and all venues scheduled for rallies in every state of the federation were taken over by combined teams of the army, anti-riot police, and state security service (secret police), among others. In several states they took to flexing their muscles with patrols through the major roads and possible sites of mass gatherings. Notwithstanding, this brazen show of strength demonstrations was held in 14 of Nigeria’s 23 states. #RevolutionNow activists also took action in Berlin, Geneva, Johannesburg, London, New York and Toronto.

The largest of the demonstrations was in Lagos. About 150 activists had a faceoff with the police in front of the national stadium in Surulere, where the flag-off rally for the revolutionary campaign was meant to take place. At the end of the day 57 activists were arrested in six different cities across five states, and many of them were badly beaten up.

This hour marked not just the deepening of AAC’s radical politics. It was equally a watershed in its transformation into the driving force of a mass-based revolutionary movement. As with all such moments, there was confusion, even within the ranks of the left, as to what was happening. More than a few condemned such (in their view) rash declarations of revolution—as if revolutions were singular events and not processes that include affirmation around mobilization.

To some, it would have made sense for the August nationwide action to have been described as a “protest,” to avoid prematurely falling foul of the state. Obviously, such ideas, incidentally from comrades on the left, were backwards compared to those of Maureen Onyetenu a Federal High Court judge. On May 4, 2020, she ruled that the nationwide #RevolutionNow action was well within the realm of even bourgeois democratic rights, irrespective of what it was called. She further declared the state’s disruption of the protest as “illegal, oppressive, undemocratic and unconstitutional.”

The detention of Sowore for almost five months, and the absurd theatrics of the state security service in flouting rulings and respect for the courts, including the invasion of the federal high court premises at Abuja to re-arrest Sowore, also showed state suppression for what it is. The bail condition of restricting him to Abuja is partly face-saving by the ruling class, as well as a desperate attempt to try to take the winds from the sails of the emergent revolutionary movement.

Despite the COVID-19 lockdown, TIB/AAC continued with revolutionary agitation on important political issues with skillful use of social media. As soon as the confinement restrictions were lifted in June, TIB/AAC and its allies constituting the CORE continued organizing on the ground. This included a series of demonstrations in June in five cities against police brutality and the rising incidence of rape and femicide. The protesters also declared their solidarity with the global #JusticeForGeorgeFloyd movement.

Branches of the AAC in localities where police violence against poor citizens is rife—for example, in Oworonshoki where 16-year old Tina Ezekwe was killed by police in May—promptly organized community-based protests. Political education for party cadres was also introduced in this period, in the Lagos state chapter, where the first of a series of “education for revolution” programs are now running. The party is also back on the electoral trail with its radical agenda for the polls. It conducted well organized primaries to produce candidates for the forthcoming gubernatorial elections in Edo and Ondo states. Also, in May, The Socialist Workers and Youth League initiated a seven-week process for democratizing and consolidating the structures of CORE. The TIB and all but one affiliated organization supported these genuine aims. For the first time in its history, an inclusive and democratically elected leadership of the coalition emerged.

The new CORE leadership had barely one month to prepare for the commemoration of the launch of the #RevolutionNow campaign with the #August5thProtest. Despite myriad challenges, these were a success. In fifteen states, including Niger and Yobe where there was no action the previous year, activists took to the streets. Though most demonstrations were not large, the movement’s showing in Abuja and Lagos, the two main cities, outmatched the previous year’s demonstrations. More than 60 people demonstrated at the Unity Fountain Abuja. A busload of activists from a satellite of the capital was turned back at a checkpoint while trying to enter the city center. In Lagos, between 400 and 600 protesters took over the Ikeja roundabout compared to barely 150 persons in front of the national stadium a year earlier. Twice the police dispersed them and twice they regrouped, with popular support from traders, commuters, and residents where they rallied.

The state machinery of coercion was no less active in attempts to suppress these activities. More than 100 people were arrested in different parts of the country for participating in the demonstrations. These included 42 in Abuja, 22 in Lagos, seven in Osun, five in Abeokuta and the AAC Kano Chair in Kano city, who was released only recently. Working assiduously with the Revolutionary Lawyers Forum (RLF) and the Radical Mandate Agenda for the Nigeria Bar Association (RAMIMBA), the party and the CORE leadership ensured the release of all the arrested comrades.

Building the party—what is to be done?

The COVID-19 pandemic has driven home sharply the failures of the profit-before-people-basis of capitalism. The worst is yet to come. As the capitalist world lurches into what could very well be its worst social-economic crisis in history, the bosses will attempt to make the mass of poor people bear the brunt of an exploitative system. Working-class people and youth will have no choice but to fight back. Sparks of discontent will set off moments of spontaneous mass movements on the streets, in workplaces, and across communities. But these massquakes will dissipate like hot steam and the bosses will still have their way, if there is no mass-based revolutionary organization that like a steam engine, can turn the steam of mass anger into motion of lasting struggle for system change. But there is still so much to do in building the party, movement, and coalition for revolution.

Probably the top priority is a systematic and intensive approach to cadre education. As we learn from Che Guevara, “the first duty of a revolutionary is to be educated.” The education he means of course, is not that which you acquire in the four walls of school, but rather questioning why society is how it is, what alternatives could be constructed from concrete reality to change how society is, and how we go about struggle to bring to birth the better society we desire. This education is one which we get from the largest university in the world—the school of life.

However, the dominant ideas through which the direct lessons from life are perceived are shaped by the interests of the dominant classes of oppressors in any society. What immediately appears to us as “common sense,” even the most radical of such, tends to be inadequate for the thinking we need to overthrow the oppressive system we find ourselves in. To forge the “good sense,” which alone can help us grasp the tasks and strategy for what is to be done as revolutionaries requires education to deepen our theoretical understanding. That is precisely why Vladimir Lenin said, “without revolutionary theory, there can be no revolutionary movement.” The time is ripe to consider establishing a living party school and research center, which harnesses and enriches decentralized education for revolution programs in all branches.

The party must build its capacity for producing, distributing, and facilitating the study of revolutionary literature. Pamphlets, leaflets, and books must be part of the mental staple food of party cadres. The fantastic use of social media, and other audio-visual means have to be taken to a new level to ensure deeper cadre and mass political education. We must also learn from the strengths (and weaknesses) of historical and contemporary revolutionary party-building projects. Drawing from some of these and contextualizing them concretely, the party has to develop intervention programs that have meaning to working-class people and youth in their daily lives.

For example, AAC cadres across the country could set aside a day every few months for “environmental sanitation” exercises. Free tutorial/coaching for children of poor working-class people could be organized. This could include e-learning through webinars, with children from poor working-class homes who might not be able to afford data being provided airtime to join. Physical contact sessions must however be prioritized as much as possible.

Free breakfast programs could be developed, as the Black Panthers in the US did. These, and similar programs, are not to be conducted in the supposedly non-political manner that NGOs render services. Our politics must run as the thread that ties these expressions of alternative power as much as service delivery together, and link the party’s social provision intervention with its more partisan political mobilization for revolution work. The party program and our class orientation are two vital issues that must be clearly addressed at this point.

The AAC manifesto as adopted at the 2018 party convention reflected a shotgun marriage arrangement with the party’s right-wing at the time. As we pointed out in the January-February 2019 edition of Socialist Worker:

The movement of #TIB is moving more and more to the left. There are internal struggles with a party right-wing in AAC ready to uphold the status quo of capitalism, merely with some “decency”, so to speak. But what the movement as a whole seeks is the revolutionary upturn of the exploitative system and as it gets more engaged in mass work, this orientation deepens.

Events thus far have confirmed this analysis. An overhaul of the AAC manifesto to reflect its politics of struggle for social system change is now imperative. This must be a program that addresses the social, economic, political, and ecological problems of the day with a view to bring about fundamental transformative change. This change must break from the logic of growth and development that has pauperized the majority of the population and put the earth in the perilous state of climate crisis. We need to formulate a revolutionary program for a party of revolution.

The orientation of AAC to working-class people has never been in doubt. The party membership includes young professionals; middle-class change-seeking Nigerians, who are fed up with the disaster life has become for all but the 1% of super-rich people in the country. It also includes students as well as working-class people, who constitute a significant proportion in the ranks of the party. Revolutionary political parties can lead revolutions, but revolutions are never waged and won by any one party. Revolutions are massive anti-systemic uprisings of the mass of working-class people. AAC has to strengthen its ties with all strata of workers, artisans, poor farmers etc. We must be the tribune of all exploited and oppressed sections of the population.

AAC activists in several states have joined workers on strike at the barricades, supported and fought alongside the people in poor working-class communities for electricity rights and against police brutality, and organized political education programs for workers in both the formal and informal sector. Such activities must become generalized, a normal part of revolutionary politics across all states of the federation.  Organization for revolution requires unification-in-action of many social forces, parties, and other groups committed to struggle, with the aim of bringing down the oppressive system of exploitation that determines the status quo. This entails building united fronts. CORE is the united front for revolution now. Building CORE with other affiliates of the coalition must be a key priority for AAC’s revolutionary activists. This will involve constituting CORE in all states where we have TIB structures along with other affiliates’ chapters, and expanding the coalition’s affiliation base to include all organizations who stand for revolutionary transformation today.

The unfolding revolutionary movement that TIB/AAC/CORE sharply manifests in Nigeria is an integral wave in the global tsunami of popular risings against exploiters and their oppressive system. Internationalism must thus be woven into the fabric of our struggle. The primary devil we confront is at home, but our battle is against all the powers and principalities of the hellish exploitation of the masses. An injury to one is an injury to all. We must continue to call on our sisters, brothers, comrades, and revolutionary organisations across the world to stand with us as we fight our battles for #RevolutionNow.

The mission of our generation, rising from the obscurity of neoliberalism, is global revolution—to build a better and more just world. We must not betray it. Working-class people united and determined cannot be defeated!

This is an edited version of a paper presented for the second anniversary webinar of the African Action Congress. An abridged version was published in the Socialist Worker of August-September 2020.

OSUN 2022; OLUFEMI JOHNSON OF THE AAC IS OKAY

OSUN 2022; OLUFEMI JOHNSON OF THE AAC IS OKAY

OSUN DESERVES A NEW DAWN

We use this opportunity to inform that our candidates for the Governorship and Deputy Governorship offices in the Osun 2022 Elections are:

Olufemi  Eniola JOHNSON (Governorship)

Olugbenga Justus Odunewu (Deputy-Governorship)

Both are the properly elected candidates of the party in the forthcoming elections. The Sogbadero Team will bring a new spring of radical change to the whole of Osun, and save our people from the current fear of voting between the devil and the deep blue sea!

We condole with all Nigerians that are under the scourges of massive insecurities. We call on the Buhari government to stop trading with the lives of Nigerians through its inept, impune, and incompetent rulership of the country.

We believe that Nigerians should obtain their voters cards, engage massively in civil actions and take their destinies into their hands by voting the People’s Candidates and standing against all oppressions!

Another Nigeria is Possible!

After Court ruling, AAC sets up Task Force to investigate fraudulent activities of impostors and get justice for victims

After Court ruling, AAC sets up Task Force to investigate fraudulent activities of impostors and get justice for victims

PRESS STATEMENT

AAC DISCLAIMS MEETINGS NOT SANCTIONED BY LEADERSHIP ORGANS, RECOGNIZED BOTH IN FACT AND IN LAW.

SETS UP TASK FORCE TO INVESTIGATE CORRUPT PRACTICES COMMITTED BY IMPOSTORS SINCE 2019.

It has come to the notice of the National Working Committee (NWC) of our great party that a group of persons unknown to the party are parading themselves as leaders and are currently planning to meet to conduct “primaries”, despite the ruling of the Court confirming the authentic leadership of the party.
We want to inform the public that such gatherings are not authorized by the National Working Committee or any sub-national leadership organ of the party. Even though it is clear that any activity conducted by these impostors is a nullity, we warn these impostors to desist forthwith in their best interests.

The final dates for primaries as communicated to INEC by the NWC, are 7th June, 2022 across respective States and 9th, June 2022 at the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja. 
And preparations are in top gear to present the best candidates to vote for, in the general elections, come 2023.

The party leadership has also set up a 5-person RECOVERY COMMITTEE to look into all matters surrounding fraudulent activities, carried out by the impostors and their agents.
Recall that in 2019, our party released a widely publicized disclaimer, which warned members of the public not to have any party dealings with the impostor who was already expelled.

However, in the spirit of justice, we are willing to help unsuspecting members of the public who may have fallen victims to the fraudsters. Anyone with solid evidence of fraudulent activities done in the name of the party should kindly approach the RECOVERY COMMITTEE without any delay.

Our party shall continue to stand by its known principle of justice and fairness and would ensure that justice is served to all, at all times.

RECOVERY COMMITTEE HOTLINE- 08038296101
Email- [email protected]

Solidarity!

Signed:

Femi Adeyeye
National Publicity Secretary
African Action Congress
4/6/2022

“Fund Education Effectively,” Take It Back Tells Oyo State Government, Declares Support For Ongoing Strike

“Fund Education Effectively,” Take It Back Tells Oyo State Government, Declares Support For Ongoing Strike

Take It Back Movement, Oyo State Chapter, has accused the Oyo state government of using the Oyo State College of Education, Lanlate to play politics, while calling for a genuine revamping of the college, stating that it was not enough for the state government to claim ownership of the institution if appropriate funding would not be provided.

The group declared its support for the ongoing strike action embarked upon by the Joint Action Committee of the Academic Staff Union of Polytechnics in the state which include Emmanuel Alayande College of Education, Oyo; Oyo State College of Education, Lanlate; and Adeseun Ogundoyin Polytechnic, Eruwa.

In a statement, dated February 4, 2022 and titled “Take It Back Movement (Oyo State)”, the group decried the infrastructural challenges and the state’s government negligent of staff and students of the institution, and disclosed that the TakeitBack Movement is ready to do everything possible in order to save the institution from its infrastructure challenges and imminent collapse.

The statement, signed by the Assistant Secretary, Gbenga Oloniniran and the Coordinator, Solomon Emiola, reads:

“The Take It Back Movement Oyo state uses this medium to react to the deteriorating state of the Oyo State College of Education, Lanlate. We commiserate with the staff and students of the institution who have been subjected to such untold hardship for long but have found the courage to make their demands public.

“In a letter to the Oyo State House of Assembly, the Joint Action Committee of the three trade unions highlighted a very pitiable state of the college. From nonpayment of backlog of arrears to the workers, to lack of take-off funds for the college, lack of toilet facilities and poor roads leading to the institution, we cannot but sympathize with the college community on the hardship being suffered by the staff and students of the institution.

“For us in the TIB, we cannot disconnect the issues faced by the college from other issues faced by many public schools in the state and in Nigeria. The commercialisation of public education has rendered many public tertiary, secondary and basic schools unworthy. We condemn this negligence of government on public education where future leaders are made.

“We must put it clear that it is not enough pronounce an institution autonomous, change its name or claim state ownership, without the adequate funding of the schools.

“We can see this trend also in the Seyi Makinde regime where institutions like the Ladoke Akintola University of Technology (LAUTECH) in Ogbomoso have been claimed fully by the Oyo State government.

“Meanwhile, the institution is still neither independent of underfunding nor of exorbitant fees being paid by the students. We recall that in the latter months of 2021, students of Lautech embarked on protest against the idea of “No tuition no exam” policy of the university management.

“This, regardless of the acclaimed paltry 25 percent reduction in their fees by the Seyi Makinde government, shows how insignificant such cosmetic reduction is to the economic realities confronting the people.

“We, therefore, condemn the attempts of the Oyo state government to continually use public education to play politics. We call for a genuine revamping of the Oyo State college of education, Lanlate and its environs.

“We call for an effective funding of LAUTECH to relieve the labouring parents and students. We believe that an emergency disbursement is due for the school and for many other public institutions suffering from deterioration in the state.

“The Take It Back Movement is ready to support the struggles of the Oyo state college, Lanlate, as well as of every worker and student centered agitation to save public education in the state.”

Since the college became an autonomous institution in 2016, it has been battling with series of challenges, as well as the non-accreditation of courses which have necessitated the statement.

Motorcyclist Dies, Student In Coma During Police Chase In Ogbomosho On Wednesday, TakeitBack Movement Reacts

Motorcyclist Dies, Student In Coma During Police Chase In Ogbomosho On Wednesday, TakeitBack Movement Reacts

Despite the nationwide protest of October 2020 against police brutality, officers of the Nigerian Police Force have continued to unlawfully detain, torture, and harass members of the public.

Following a recent case of harassment, high-handedness and unprofessional conduct by policemen in the city, the Oyo State Chapter of TakeitBack Movement has raised concerns over the safety and security of poor and helpless Nigerians, particularly young people.

In a video of one of such incidents that took place at 11:00pm, on Wednesday at NNPC petrol station along Illorin road, a popular section of the city, some policemen in an unbranded police vehicle were in pursuit of a black Lexus car.

During the wild police chase, one of the tyres of the Lexus car got burst and a motorcyclist, with his passenger, a female student, were unfortunate victims of the accident, and were rushed to Bowen University Teaching Hospital, Ogbomoso. As at the time of writing this report, the motorcyclist has kicked the bucket and the student is in coma.

TakeitBack Movement had earlier reported how three young men were harassed, and subsequently arrested illegally by police officers in Lagos. It took media outcry from the Movement to have them released.

Speaking on the issue of police brutality generally, and the police chase and accident particularly, a student activist, who spoke on condition of anonymity said, “It’s been over a year since the disbandment of the Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS) and the Nigerian Police authorities promised reforms and more respect for the rights of citizens, yet nothing has changed as ordinary Nigerians, especially young people are still at the mercy of rogue policemen.”

TakeitBack Movement Secures Release Of Three Entertainers, Insist On End To Police Brutality

TakeitBack Movement Secures Release Of Three Entertainers, Insist On End To Police Brutality

Three entertainers, Ibrahim Bakare, Idris Oseni and Oyeniyi Abeeb were arrested by policemen, attached to the Oke Odo Police station, in Lagos State on the night of Tuesday, February 1, 2022.

A report, obtained by the TakeitBack Movement revealed that the three young entertainers were thoroughly beaten and secretly detained in one of the police officers’ private office, and a ransom of N100,000 demanded by the policemen.

Following the illegal arrest, the Lagos chapter of the TakeitBack Movement campaigned vigorously for the immediate release of the young men, and demanded an end to police brutality – a carryover from the #EndSARS protest of October, 2020.

In the early hours of Wednesday, the young men regained their freedom.

Pastor Paul Enenche Invited Us To Arrest Activists Who Wore ‘Buhari Must Go’ T-Shirts To His Church – DSS

Pastor Paul Enenche Invited Us To Arrest Activists Who Wore ‘Buhari Must Go’ T-Shirts To His Church – DSS

Abiodun Sanusi

Nigeria’s secret police, the Department of State Services (DSS) has admitted that it was the Dunamis International Gospel Centre (Glory Dome), Abuja, which called for the arrest of five human rights activists who wore the #BuhariMustGo T-Shirts to its church service last Sunday.

This is just as the whereabouts of the activists remain unknown with the DSS and the Dunamis Church refusing to take responsibility for the arrest and detention of the activists.

Earlier on, the FCT command of the DSS as well as the headquarters had both denied being in custody of five activists arrested by Dunamis church security.

“At a meeting with Pastor Paul Enenche yesterday, the pastor told Omoyele Sowore and Deji Adeyanju that the five activists were with DSS. However, the DSS vehemently denied holding the five activists.

“Meanwhile no one has heard from the activists since Sunday when church security attacked them and detained them in the church premises. Their phones have since been switched off,” a source revealed.

SaharaReporters learnt that the DSS and the church had first both denied arresting and detaining the human rights activists.

The worshippers were harassed and manhandled by the DSS officials and also denied food or sleep since Sunday in the DSS custody, SaharaReporters further learnt.

SaharaReporters learnt on Tuesday that the DSS had admitted that the Dunamis church called them to take away the “suspects.”

“About 48 hours after illegal arrest and detention by Dunamis church, we don’t know the whereabouts of these #BuhariMustGo activists,” one of the sources said.

The DSS has admitted that it was Pastor Enenche who called them.

At a meeting with Pastor Paul Enenche yesterday, the pastor told Omoyele Sowore and Deji Adeyanju that the five activists were with DSS. However, the DSS vehemently denied holding the five activists.

Meanwhile no one has heard from the activists since Sunday when church security attacked them and detained them in the church premises. Their phones have since been switched off.

“Two of them are said to be detained at the defunct Special Anti-Robbery Squad section of the state police command,” a source stated.

SaharaReporters had on Sunday reported that about ten activists went to the church on Sunday morning to worship at the church but some of them were surprisingly rounded up and arrested by the church security guards who later handed them over to the DSS operatives.

Five of the activists were whisked away in a Hilux van and two powerbikes.

SaharaReporters learnt on Tuesday that the state director of the DSS in the FCT was behind the detention of the activists.

“The five activists arrested at Dunamis are being detained by DSS director of FCT. They have been deprived of food and sleep since arrest,” a top source revealed.

The activists had been manhandled and beaten by the DSS operatives on the church premises, who also seized their mobile phones.

Human rights activists, Omoyele Sowore and Deji Adeyanju, had met with Enenche over the arrest of the activists.

While clarifying the matter, Sowore said the pastor denied claims by some persons that the activists were trying to disrupt the church service.

“We are adults and if we are tired of the system and we say the system must collapse, it is our right to express ourselves freely. I told the pastor when he said he was not happy when the activists were trying to protest within the premises that with the way things are going on, more and more people will be wearing #BuhariMustGo T-shirts to the church because people are tired of Buhari regime.

“We have a respectable agreement and some disagreements over this issue but what is important to me and why I don’t want to drag this for too long is the release of these individuals from detention.

“We are going to wait till evening because we requested that they should be released today (Monday). Nobody knows their whereabouts. We don’t know whether they have been fed or they have been tortured,” Sowore had said.

 

Dunamis’ Head Pastor Enenche Illegally Arrests, Hands Over Six Worshippers Wearing ‘#BuhariMustGo’ Shirts To DSS

Dunamis’ Head Pastor Enenche Illegally Arrests, Hands Over Six Worshippers Wearing ‘#BuhariMustGo’ Shirts To DSS

Security guards attached to the Dunamis International Gospel Centre (Glory Dome) located along Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport Road, Abuja have arrested six human rights activists for wearing #BuhariMustGo (Anti-President Muhammadu Buhari) T-Shirts to the church.

About ten activists went to the church on Sunday morning to worship at the church but some of them were surprisingly rounded up and arrested by the church security guards who later handed them over to the operatives of the Department of State Services (DSS).

 

Six of the activists were whisked away in a Hilux van and two power bikes.

The activists were manhandled and beaten by the DSS operatives on the church premises, who also seized their mobile phones.

Paul Enenche is the Senior Pastor of the church.

A source said, “Security men at Dunamis Gospel Church have arrested activists who wore #BuhariMustGo T-shirts to their church service: the church security later handed them over to DSS officials who are currently torturing them.

“I thought Pastor Dr Paul Enenche was also preaching about justice! The six activists were driven away in a DSS Hilux van and two power bikes. Shame on the house of God!

“About 10 activists decided to attend Dunamis church in their #BuhariMustGo T-shirts. The church asked all first-timers to come out for prayers. The patriotic citizens obeyed the clarion call from the altar with their fully displayed BuhariMustGo shirts.

“They were immediately apprehended by the church security on their way out of the church and subsequently handed to the DSS. Kudos to the courageous activists for this creativity. I’m certain if the activists had worn a shirt with the inscription ‘Sai Buhari’, they would have ranked as Pastor Enenche’s new best friend.”

Similarly, in April, violent youths descended on two middle-aged protesters– Larry Emmanuel and Anene Victor Udoka–who were pasting Buhari-Must-Go posters in Lokoja, the Kogi to State capital.

SaharaReporters learnt that the irate mob flogged the two youths, filmed them, and brutalised them before they were later handed over to the police.

It was gathered that the police thereafter quizzed the two protesters and detained them when they insisted on seeing their lawyer before making a statement.

In some viral videos, the protesters were seen being molested and questioned by the mob before they were flogged as the youths forced them to clean their painting of “Buhari Must Go”.

The court, last Thursday, resumed trial of the two activists after being granted bail after spending 78 days in detention.

Nnamdi Kanu Was Blindfolded, Handcuffed and Chained, I Fear For His Safety — Sowore

Nnamdi Kanu Was Blindfolded, Handcuffed and Chained, I Fear For His Safety — Sowore

Human rights activist and convener of the #RevolutionNow movement, and former presidential candidate of the African Action Congress, Mr. Omoyele Sowore has said he was at a Federal High Court in Abuja, the nation’s capital to see that Nnamdi Kanu got justice but had been arraigned and conveyed to the custody of the police.

Leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), Kanu was arrested in the United Kingdom and extradited to Nigeria to face trial over allegations of treason leveled against him by the Nigerian government.

However, the human rights activist has said he fears for the safety of the leader of the pro-Biafra separatist group as he was blindfolded, handcuffed and his legs were chained.

“I’m here to see that Nnamdi Kanu gets justice, but unfortunately he has been moved to be detained. I fear for his safety. He was hooded. This is despicable. This just shows that we are in the Banana Republic,” he said.

Sowore also stated that Kanu has the right to agitate for self-determination, especially in a system that has kept denying Nigerians their rights, while adding that he has been a victim of inhumane treatment from the Nigerian government as well.

“The way he was treated was despicable. The system has a way of abducting people and bringing them to court. I have been abducted like that before. There is nothing wrong with asking for self-determination. Nnamdi Kanu has rights to ask for self-determination,” Sowore added.

Kanu was swiftly transported to Court 2 where the presiding judge Justice Murtala Nyanko told the prosecution lawyer, Shuaib Labaran to notify the defense counsel of the new date for the continuation of the trial.

Journalists were prevented from filming Kanu as he was shielded and taken through the back door.

The prosecution applied that Kanu jumped bail and wanted him to be remanded at DSS custody.

Justice Murtala Nyanko has adjourned the matter to July 26, 2021.

The Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami (SAN), Tuesday, had earlier declared that Kanu was captured by the operatives of Nigeria’s security intelligence.

Kanu was on October 14, 2015, arraigned by the Nigerian Government over allegations of terrorism, money laundering, treason, etc.

On March 28, 2019, his bail condition was revoked by Justice Binta Nyako of the Federal High Court.