Monday 2 December 2013

FG Should Respect Resolutions with ASUU!

As Govt-Murdered IYAYI's Burial Commences December 4th!!
ASUU and the struggle to SAVE PUBLIC EDUCATION will OUTLIVE the Jonathan Presidency!!!
1.    The Joint Action Front (JAF) deplores the reckless and irresponsible pronouncement made last week by the Supervising Minister for Education, Mr. Nyesom Wike, ordering university lecturers in the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) to resume duty by December 4th 2013 or face mass sack.
2.    The uncouth statement, which was unnecessary, further exposes the insincerity and hollowness of the Federal Government’s professed commitment to honour Collective Agreements reached with ASUU, and its disregard for adequate funding and democratic running of public education.
3.    JAF observes that the declaration of war on ASUU by the FG came in the wake of ASUU’s NEC resolutions and the correspondence by its President – Comrade Nasir Faggae Issa - to the FG to include all the issues that President Goodluck Jonathan agreed with the leadership of ASUU at the meeting held in the Presidential Villa on 4th to 5th November, in the document to be endorsed by the FG and ASUU and witnesses, pursuant to the implementation of the 2009 FGN/ASUU agreements.
4.    Equally JAF notes that the insensitive, lawlessness, power drunken and bully regime of President Jonathan has curiously chosen December 4th 2013 to unleash violence on ASUU and its members across the country.December 4th is the commencement of the burial rites of Comrade Professor Iyayi, who was murdered on November 12th 2013. It is the day set aside to PROTEST the state murder of Comrade Iyayi in Benin, Edo State.
5.    JAF is not unaware of the extreme implications of the FG's resort to the use of force as already indicated by the statement credited to the Inspector General of Police (IGP) to deploy armed police to the campuses, possiblteffect a proscription of ASUU and vandalise its offices and properties, arrest and brutalise its members, forceful ejection from the campuses, etc.
6.    The FG should be reminded that universities and other public education institutions are not police or army barracks to be run by bullying public officers. Nigerians must be informed that the 2009 FGN/ASUU Agreements include academic freedom and autonomy in the running of the university system in order to avoid such backwardness and lack of intelligent appreciation of modern engineering of society exhibited by Mr. Nyesom Wike.
7.    Let the FG and its agents be notified that JAF will join forces with ASUU to RESIST this latest unwarranted declaration of war against ASUU. We want to assure the FG and its agents who prefer to operate as reckless bandits, instead of being responsible public office holders that ASUU and the struggle to SAVE PUBLIC EDUCATION will OUTLIVE the Jonathan presidency and the class of exploiters in Nigeria.
8.    Thus, we in JAF urge Nigerians and patriotic groups across the country to rally in support of ASUU in the defence of the rights to public education and its adequate funding by Governments at all levels.
9.    The issue in the ASUU strike is clear: the Jonathan presidency should honour the understanding reached with the ASUU leadership at the meeting of November 4th 2013 for the implementation of the subsisting 2009 FGN/ASUU Collective Agreements.
10. We salute ASUU for its consistency and adherence to democratic principles and sound values in the struggle to SAVE PUBLIC EDUCATION in our country, and we in JAF have faith in ASUU’s commitment to get back to work as soon as the FG does what it has agreed to with ASUU in order to ensure the revitalisation of the infrastructure and facilities in the universities, in line with global academic competitiveness.
11. JAF wishes to inform Nigerians that the struggle to redeem our country should be intensified. In JAF, our goal remains SYSTEM CHANGE in order to ensure a polity in which a truly government of the people would respect the consent of the people on our needs and demands.
12. What in JAF we meant by SYSTEM CHANGE: “Nigeria is rich. The wealth belongs to the people. Most Nigerians are hungry, have no jobs, no education, no healthcare, no potable water, no electricity supply and no affordable transportation. Most cannot feed their families or educate their children. Those who are lucky to have jobs are not much different. They also cannot afford a decent living for their families. On the other hand, there is a very tiny group of Nigerians who have cornered the wealth that belong to the working people and the poor, who are in the majority. They loot the treasury and use their stolen wealth to sustain themselves in power through their political parties. They use their power to get richer and richer when the poor get poorer and poorer. This is the system of exploitation and oppression. It is the system that brings out the army and the police to kill poor people when they protest against oppression and exploitation. We want to change that system and replace it with a system where the working people and the millions of people who are sufferings under the system of exploitation will win power and ensure that the wealth of Nigeria is used to ensure a good life for the majority of the people who are now exploited and oppressed. System change is not replacing one exploiter’s government by another exploiter’s government. It is replacing an exploiter’s government by a people’s government to reorganise Nigeria and put an end to exploitation and oppression”.
 
DARE TO STRUGGLE, DARE TO WIN!
 
Comrade ABIODUN AREMU
JAF Secretary

Wednesday 27 November 2013

Comrade FESTUS IYAYI for BURIAL: Dec 4th – 8th




Wed 4th Dec: @ 9am to noon: Solidarity March from Faculty of Arts/Social Sciences, UNIBEN
@7pm – 9pm: Candle light procession @ same venue.
Thu 5th Dec: @4pm – 6pm: Service of Songs @ comrade Festus’ Home, 11 Bello St, off Benin-Lagos Rd, Ishor – Benin
@7pm: Night of Readings/Tributes @ same venue.
Fri 6th Dec: 10am – 12pm Commendation Service @ Main Auditorium, UNIBEN
@ 12pm: Corpse Departs Benin for Ugbegun
@ 3pm: Lying-in-State @ Ugbegun
@ 8pm – dawn: Solidarity Night @ Ugbegun
Sat 7th Dec: 10am – 11:30am: Funeral Mass @ Ugbegun
@11:30am: Interment
@12pm: Reception @ Ugbegun Grammar School Field
Sun 8th Dec: 11am – 1pm: Thanksgiving Mass @ St Mathew’s Catholic Church, Ugbegun.

Monday 25 November 2013

RE-STATING OUR POSITION ON THE NATIONAL CONFERENCE



SYSTEM CHANGE REMAINS OUR GOAL!

Press Statement

1.    It has become imperative in the light of the ongoing nationwide consultation by the President Jonathan’s Advisory Committee on the National Conference to restate the position of the Joint Action Front (JAF), which had previously been made public in March 2012.
2.    The position of JAF on the National Conference was a product of a Special Discussion Session of JAF’s Affiliates on the State of the Nigeria nation-state held on March 11th 2012 in Lagos.
3.    We stand by the resolution of the aforementioned March 11th 2012 meeting, which became necessary then because of the desperate calls for National Dialogue (ND), National Conference (NC) or Sovereign National Conference (SNC) by politicians, military apologists, government fronts and agents, imperialist lackeys, and members of the exploiter’s class in-and-out of government (in the past four decades) alike.
4.    JAF, therefore, wishes to re-state its position as clearly articulated then, that:
·         JAF is not opposed to Dialogue or National Conference or Sovereign National Conference or by whatever name it is called; but such a Conference should not be at the instance of the same members of the ruling cabal and their recruits who suddenly become “champions of National Dialogue”;
·         JAF acknowledged that in the call for ND, NC or SNC, there are few patriots who are genuinely committed to the resolution of the crises in the Nigerian polity through social dialogue. But the concern of JAF is that majority of those calling for the ND, NC or SNC are members and fronts of the ruling cabal and political parties who want to re-negotiate among themselves the conditions under which they will continue to enjoy their privileges while keeping the majority of the people poor and powerless;
·         The Mass Protest of January 9th  – 16th 2012 protest against the wicked imposition of a high price for petrol, in which Nigerians overwhelmingly supported the call by the Joint Action Front (JAF) and its labour allies – Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) and the Trade Union Congress (TUC) - was unprecedented as it cut across ethnic and religious boundaries, and put a lie to the use of religion and ethnicity by successive regimes and their cohorts to engender the perennial violence and insecurity in the country;
·         The failure by the ruling cabal and office holders at the three levels of government and their collaborating political jobbers to deliver on electoral promises and ensure responsible governance, has been responsible for the political instability, ethnic and religious suspicion and violence, and the insecurity of life and property being daily aggravated by the perpetration of condemnable violence by such groups as the Boko Haram, MEND and Amnesty palliatives-excluded Niger Delta militants, ethnic militias and other yet-identified groups who have turned the country into a theatre of bombing, kidnapping, hostage taking, sophisticated armed robbery and gang warfare.
·         The popular expression of the Nigerian working people and the poor is that the current neo-liberal order of privatisation and deregulation with its attendant failure to deliver on  education, health, employment opportunities, social welfare, infrastructure, etc have made life unbearable to the people
·         Nigerians should be wary of the forces in the mainstream of the National Dialogue or Sovereign National Conference (SNC) because they are not on the side of the working people and the poor. The Governors and their fronts that are now dissolving into ethnic platforms of North, South, East and West to demand a Conference and review of revenue allocation, are the same forces that conspired with the Federal Government to impose hike in fuel prices, increase in electricity tariffs and other untold hardships on Nigerians. It is not enough to talk about “Political restructuring and Revenue Derivation”, Nigerians should in particular, be concerned with: what use has the current office holders made of the allocation they receive monthly?
·         Genuine unity of Nigerians despite the diverse ethnic and religious differences is possible, and can be attained by a Conference that is led by patriots and pro-working people and the poor organisations and its agenda should be based on: CONTROL OF THE ECONOMY AND GOVERNANCE FOR THE COLLECTIVE INTEREST OF THE PEOPLE as against the current running of the economy for SELFISH PRIVATE INTEREST OF THE POLITICIANS;
·         If a Conference becomes inevitable to address the national question and resolve the decades of political and economic decadence; it should be a Conference of the Exploited and Oppressed Working people and the poor who have genuine reasons for their anger and frustration against the existing ruling cabal, whose callousness and inimical policies have been responsible for the decades of injustice, dehumanisation, poverty and wants, ethnic and minority marginalization and hatred, bad governance, looting and sharp corrupt practices, underdevelopment, subservient to foreign political and economic dictates, etc;
·         The major task before Nigerians is the UNITY of the social forces across the country on a NATIONAL AGENDA to redeem the country from the present class of looters and profiteers who are located in every ethnic and religious groups; and
·         Patriots and organisations of the working people and the poor that are truly committed to the socio-economic emancipation of Nigerians should join forces together as was done in the January 2012 protest to provide leadership in the quest for a new Nigeria that should ensure that the country’s wealth is judiciously used to benefit all Nigerians, irrespective of sex, age, ethnic or religious differences.
5.    SYSTEM CHANGE IS WHAT NIGERIANS MUST FOCUS ON!
·         The Political Alternative that Nigerians should embrace now is SYSTEM CHANGE in order to rescue power from the present wicked and corrupt ruling class of exploiters and oppressors.
·         What in JAF we meant by SYSTEM CHANGE: “Nigeria is rich. The wealth belongs to the people. Most Nigerians are hungry, have no jobs, no education, no healthcare, no potable water, no electricity supply and no affordable transportation. Most cannot feed their families or educate their children. Those who are lucky to have jobs are not much different. They also cannot afford a decent living for their families. On the other hand, there is a very tiny group of Nigerians who have cornered the wealth that belong to the working people and the poor, who are in the majority. They loot the treasury and use their stolen wealth to sustain themselves in power through their political parties. They use their power to get richer and richer when the poor get poorer and poorer. This is the system of exploitation and oppression. It is the system that brings out the army and the police to kill poor people when they protest against oppression and exploitation. We want to change that system and replace it with a system where the working people and the millions of people who are sufferings under the system of exploitation will win power and ensure that the wealth of Nigeria is used to ensure a good life for the majority of the people who are now exploited and oppressed. System change is not replacing one exploiter’s government by another exploiter’s government. It is replacing an exploiter’s government by a people’s government to reorganise Nigeria and put an end to exploitation and oppression”.

DARE TO STRUGGLE, DARE TO WIN!

Comrade ABIODUN AREMU
JAF Secretary

FESTUS IYAYI WAS MURDERED BY THE GOVERNMENT TO DESTABLISE ASUU!


Presidency, Minister of Defence and the IGP should be Held Responsible!! 
TELL the PUBLIC “THE STRANGE OBJECT WHICH PIERCED IYAYI’s HEART?

1.    The Joint Action Front (JAF) wishes to alert Nigerians and the international community that Comrade Professor Festus Iyayi was murdered by operatives of the Nigerian State, contrary to the widely reported claims that he died in the bus accident on November 12th 2013 along the Lokoja – Abuja road due to the recklessness of the Kogi State Governor’s convoy.

2.    JAF has every reason to believe that the murder of Comrade Iyayi was connected with the ongoing Academic Staff of Universities (ASUU) Strike to compel the Federal Government to, not only honour the Collective Agreements it reached with it in 2009; but equally to make Government responsible to adequately FUND Public Education against the dictates of its puppeteers - the IMF and World Bank.

3.    We strongly believe that the assassination of Comrade Iyayi was carried out by expert shooters in the cover of the Nigerian Intelligence, reminiscence of the State murder of Dele Giwa in 1986 and Kudirat Abiola in 1996.

4.    The ‘official explanation’ so far floated by the Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC) and the Sole Administrator of the Specialist Hospital Lokoja – Dr. Paul Amodu that Comrade Iyayi’s death was as a result of the accident, does not explain away “THE STRANGE OBJECT THAT PIERCED IYAYI’s HEART”.

5.    The assassination of Comrade Iyayi was actually a State ACT aimed at destabilising ASUU in the wake of a major national struggle. Comrade Iyayi was actually FOUND-FIXED-FINISHED because of his prominent role in exposing the Government’s IMF and World Bank destructive policies in Education and the Nigerian economy, thereby putting a lie to the false claims that Nigeria is Broke, as cover to loot public wealth for private selfish interests.

6.    Nigerians must know that a former ASUU President, Comrade Dr. Mahmud Tukur, who led the ASUU’s dispute with the Shagari’s National Party of Nigeria (NPN) Government in 1980/81 on the same issue of funding, university autonomy and academic freedom, as it is today with the Jonathan Presidency, was murdered in a similar painted-accident scenario on the Kaduna-Zaria road in 1988.

7.    As we in JAF commiserate with Iyayi’s family, ASUU, comrades and friends of Comrade Iyayi and the oppressed poor in Nigeria and Africa whose Iyayi’s struggles touched; we urge the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), Trade Union Congress (TUC), Nigeria Medical Association (NMA), the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) and ASUU to join forces with JAF to unravel the FACT behind the State MURDER of Iyayi by challenging the Presidency, Minister of Defence and the Inspector General of Police to TELL the PUBLIC “THE STRANGE OBJECT WHICH PIERCED IYAYI’s HEART and why Festus Iyayi should be MURDERED?

8.    Comrade Festus Iyayi’s death is a wakeup call to all Nigerians to struggle for SYSTEM CHANGE. As far as we in JAF are concerned, Nigerians should no longer tolerate this unjust polity where: a very tiny group of Nigerians who loot the treasury use their stolen wealth to sustain themselves in power; use their power to get richer and richer when the poor get poorer and poorer and use the unjust system to bring out the army and the police to kill the poor people and comrades whenever we protest against oppression and exploitation.

DARE TO STRUGGLE, DARE TO WIN!

Comrade ABIODUN AREMU
JAF Secretary