Socialist Revolution, Hope Of Nigerian Workers – Ebhohon

… Comrade Osatohamhen Samuel Ebhohon, Publicity Secretary of the African Action Congress (AAC) in Lagos State, is a core activist and public affairs analyst. In this interview with EJIKEME OMENAZU, he speaks on the first year of President Bola Tinibu administration, the Rivers State crisis, the coming Edo and Ondo governorship elections, among other issues. Excerpt:

 Could you assess the one year of President Bola Tinubu’s administra­tion ?

It will be totally wrong for me to say Tinubu has failed in his first year as president. As a matter of fact, he has done exceptionally well for the elite class and his imperialist puppet masters, the US controlled IMF and World Bank. Tinubu has successful­ly deregulated social infrastructure other presidents dared not touch. Tinubu, in his first year, helped the American economy sustain its dying dollar hegemony a little longer with the devaluation of our naira. How is this? The devaluation of the Ni­gerian naira has further increased the demand for dollars as Nigeri­ans seek to save themselves from hyper-inflation. Education, which any country that actually plans to industrialise heavily invests in, has been drastically defunded by Tinubu with the introduction of students’ loans. Energy, an integral factor that determines the economical, indus­trial and innovative strength of the country is now controlled lackadai­sical by a bunch of unproductive, visionless, lazy parasitic corporate elite, who cannot come up with orig­inal ideas even if their lives depend on it. The “fuel hike” announced by Tinubu during his inauguration, as we have seen, has only benefited the corporate and elite class like Dangote while the people have been plunged further into a whole new level of poverty. This is sad to even talk about because before the 2023 election the AAC and its presidential candidate told Nigeria that the cur­rent ruling class candidates, that are Tinubu, Obi, Atiku and Kwankwaso, will work to enrich themselves and their class on the blood and suffering of the ordinary Nigerians. But, we were mocked and told politics is not SUG. I guess right now SUG politics is the only tool we have to reverse and capture the state from the hands of the political and corporate elite so as to serve the ordinary people of Nigeria. In summary, I must say, even if you give Tinubu 400 years to rule Nigeria, the material condition of or­dinary Nigerians will not transform for the good. On the contrary, the or­dinary people sweat and resources which are little, will be extracted and exploited to keep and maintain the continuous accumulation of capital by the political and corporate elite which also happen to be the class Tinubu is loyal to. If the ordinary people’s condition is to transform for good, it will only be through a social­ist revolution that redistributes the wealth of the nation back into the hands of the people.

How do you see the escalation of the crisis in Rivers State?

I have long learnt that the ruling class is never at war among them­selves. They are only always in bloody competition over who is to emerge first place. This competition claims their lives 0.5% of the time. It is the ordinary people who truly lose their lives from the ripple effects of the bloody competition. I feel for the ordinary people of Rivers State. The solution I will offer to them is to or­ganise themselves as a class whose interest and economic prosperity and justice comes first above any other thing, then politically and econom­ically expunge their current ruling class that includes Wike and Fubara.

Would you say the Aso Rock agree­ment between the Wike and the Fubara was a disservice to the River people as it seems to have boxed their governor to a corner?

I don’t know and I don’t care to know what the agreement between Wike and Fubara was. Any agree­ment made by the political and cor­porate elite anywhere in Nigeria is always a disservice to Nigerians. The aspirations, plans and goals of those who control and hold hos­tage the capital of the country, that is the political and corporate elite, are perpetually irreconcilable with the goals, aspirations and plans of those who sell their labour to feed, shelter and care for their loved ones. So, I hope Wike and Fubara cancel themselves out eventually so that the ordinary people may prosper. That would be a win for the working peo­ple of Rivers state.

What is your take on the order of the president stopping the Cyber Security Levy?

He did not stop it. He rather pushed its implementation date for­ward. The reason for doing this is to let people ease into and adapt to the current hardship. When we are fully adapted, it will be reintroduced and the Nigeria working class as al­ways will not find their voice at that moment. I will give an example of what I mean. We first heard of the increase in electricity tariff weeks after the devaluation of the naira in 2023. However it was suspended un­til this year because at that period, the Naira was “turning on e own” and inflation was climbing without slowing down. In order for the Tinu­bu regime to avoid mass action that will lead to his removal, he suspend­ed it and reintroduced it when the working class of Nigeria thought the devaluation of naira and sub­sidy removal were all Tinubu had installed for us. The same strategy was used for fuel subsidy. The contin­ued iteration by the Nigerian media that removal of subsidy would solve Nigeria’s unproductive and develop­ment issues was the programming that made the Nigeria working class plunge ourselves into this hardship. Same on defunding of education all these years. The refusal to fund edu­cation and meet ASUU demands was all intentional and its purpose was to lead to this point where a social amenity and infrastructure like uni­versities and colleges responsible for pushing society, economy and polit­ical advancement, will be handed to and controlled by those who already control the resources of the people. That way, they are unchallenged and fascism becomes the order of the day.

Nigerians have been crying out over the hike in electricity tariff. What is your view on the NERC’s adamancy in withdrawing the hike?

Crying will not save Nigerians. Nigerians have been crying since 1960 of hunger, unemployment, lack of adequate social infrastructure, human rights abuses, dictatorship, devaluation of our currency, defund­ing of our educational sector and lit­tle to no health sector. Since that time frame, have the political and corpo­rate elite listened to mitigate the pain they feel? I cannot stop saying free­dom is never and will never be hand­ed to the people out of benevolence of the ruling elite class. It must be taken through any means necessary. If the Nigerian working class wants the fuel pump price, electricity tariff, an end to the student loan rubbish and devaluation of our currency, we must fight for it by any means neces­sary. Only a socialist revolution can save the working class.

A cross section of Nigerians believes that the Tinubu administration has been exhibiting a high level of incompetence. How do you see this assertion and how do you think it could be reversed?

It is in the nature of fascist to ex­hibit a high level of incompetence because they don’t care about human development. They are only con­cerned about capital accumulation by any means necessary. They are consumed by greed and will burn down the world to sustain their po­sition on top. This is also the case of Nigeria’s political and corporate elite. They do not care about indus­trialisation, if it doesn’t allow them to accumulate capital. They don’t care about public education, health­care, social infrastructure or social welfare because it is not a direct source of direct capital accumula­tion. Because of this, they neglect and mismanage them so that they can sell the retrogressive and prepos­terous idea that a government which is constituted by the people for the people has no hand in business. My solution is simple and the same, a socialist revolution.

Edo and Ondo people will soon go to the polls to pick their next gover­nors. How do you see elections? Do you foresee some upsets in the two elections?

If the working class of Edo is ready to transform their material condition for the better, then there will be an upset. Among all the can­didates in the election, the AAC has the only pro-people candidate, Dr. Udoh Oberaifo, who is committed to put humanity first. That means the people will come before aspiration and goals. People’s welfare, shelter, and food sufficiency will come first before profit or capital accumula­tion. Udoh Oberaifo, with his plan and policies of putting the peoples first, can and will be able to gener­ate $7 billion to $10 billion annual­ly in revenue needed to transform Edo State from just oil palm, rubber, maize, rice and limestone deposit that Okpella has in abundance. If the working class of Edo State is willing to put first their aspirations and goals as a class whose interest and economic prosperity and justice comes first above any other thing like tribal divide, then, we may just have a chance. If not, it’s going to be another long period or lamentation. Same goes with the Ondo election where we also have a core activist, Comrade Kunle Wizeman Ajayi as the governorship candidate. Com­rade Ajayi, a popular activist with the heart for the masses, will be a strong contender in the Ondo elec­tion. If INEC will play according to its rules and shun all manipulations of the ruling class, Comrade Ajayi will defeat all the others.

What do you think of the recent local government elections in Oyo State? Do you agree that the elections were far from being free and fair?

I have always said that the current ruling class of Nigeria is fascist and Seyi Makinde helped us to reaffirm this stand. How do you deal with fas­cism throughout history? The work­ing people have to expunge them po­litically and economically under a common class aspiration and goal. This is why the African Action Con­gress (AAC) exists as a party and the Take it Back Movement (TIB), as a political movement. We want and are currently organising the working class or ordinary people of Nigeria as a class of itself. We are calling and we will continue to call on the work­ing people, that is, those of us who offer our labour in exchange of sal­aries or wages to meet our social and economic needs. It is time we bond together to make our aspirations and goals the dominant one.

This post originally appeared in IndependentNg