Falana, Labour Form New Movement, Rolls Out Radical Agenda |The Source

By Akinwale Kasali

“We shall mend the Country, and bring hope where there is despair”

Lawyer, Femi Falana, SAN, in conjunction with Labour, has formed a new political movement said to be radical in nature. Its aim it is reported is to save Nigeria.

The new  political Movement, The Peoples Alternative Political Movement, (TPAP-Movement), has rolled out several socio-political programes to save Nigeria from imminent economic and moral collapse in the hands of what it described as corrupt and visionless elite.

The Movement says it will mend a divided country and bring hope where there is despair.

It called on Nigerians, workers, students, women, youths and defenceless people alike to be ready to confront the exploitative system in order to secure eternal freedom from anguish and misery.

The new political Movement  being promoted by a rainbow coalition of labour, civil society and community-based organisations spread across the country, said “only a radical intervention will save the country from shipwreck.”

The founders of the new Movement are the country’s labour movement, farmers unions, women groups and hundreds of civil society organisations spread across the country. Some of its promoters include Mr Femi Falana, Prof Toye Olorode and many labour unions across the country.

TPAP-Movement in a statement signed by Mr Jaye Gaskiya for the Secretariat of the Movement said “Nigeria is once again at a perilous crossroads with the deteriorating socio-economic situations in the face ridiculous living conditions of citizens and extremely poor quality of life.”

‘We have started to build alliances in the creeks, in the forest, lands, in the savannah, in the desert, in the plateau and plain fields where poor and toiling masses of Nigerians live’, the party said.

The Movement said since the inauguration of the current 4th Republic in 1999, Nigerians has been in a gradual slid into possible implosion.

“We are very clear about the root causes of our existential crisis. We shall mobilise Nigerians irrespective of religion, creed and norms to establish a new country that will be the pride of Africa. Nigeria shall be great again’ the Movement said.

The group said the ruling elite is  “incompetent, greedy, exploitative, destructive with its repressive capitalist system over which it presides.

“We are equally not ambiguous about what is ultimately required to address the crisis and salvage our country and her peoples – the displacement of crooks and looters from power, and the elevation of the working class and masses to a state where they can exercise real control and management of their political and economic future.  On insecurity, the group said the result of the decades of misrule  is seen in terrorism, killings and a dominant atmosphere of fear and trembling.”

It said “while bandits in power continue to negotiate with bandits in the forests and on the highways, no single inch of the territory of Nigeria is secure, and not a single citizen or resident is safe or can live a life free from fear.

“Armed bandits, armed insurgents, armed herders, armed militias, armed cultists, armed robbers,and armed kidnappers lay siege to the country, exercising varying degrees of authority over  territories in Nigeria.

“It is clear that the ruling class, and all its various factions have run out of ideas and are incapable of resolving the threats facing the country”

The Movement said that “the outcome of the legacy of decades of misrule and bad governance, has been the current rampant levels of insecurity of lives and properties.

‘While bandits in power continue to negotiate with bandits in the forests and on the highways, no single inch of the territory of our country is secure, and not a single citizen or resident is safe or can live a life free from fear.

“Armed bandits, armed insurgents, armed herders, armed militias, armed cultists, armed robbers, and armed kidnappers lay siege to the country, exercising varying degrees of suzerainty over large swats of the territory of the country.

“It is clear that the ruling class, and all its various factions and fractions have run out of ideas and are incapable of resolving the humongous  security challenges, facing the country, and brought on by their incompetence and greed.

“It is clear that in order to adequately address this crisis, the popular masses must accede to power, and undertake a comprehensive root and branch overhaul and radical reorganisation of governance.

“We demand that the working peoples of Nigeria, and the labour movement rise up and hold the government and the ruling class accountable.

The Movement  added: ‘We demand that participatory, representative and inclusive steps and processes are immediately embarked upon and put in place to address this crisis: the security and defence institutions, systems and processes need to be radically overhauled; citizens must be enabled to play the central role in ensuring their own security, through representative community level, neighborhood, workplace, and school based inclusive security and conflict prevention committees.’

The group said for a long time, the rights of workers have been violated while the quality of life continues to diminish.

‘The quality of life of the average citizen continues to deteriorate. Through the policies of the ruling class Nigeria has now been brought to a situation where, basic social services are absent, while healthcare delivery, education, and basic social services and infrastructures have collapsed.’

“Industrialization remains stunted because electricity and fuel management are at a peril.

“Unemployment is at its highest at 55% – that is more than one in two persons unemployed. The rate among young persons is even more calamitous at nearly 65%-more than three in five youths out of work.”

The Movement said the poverty rate, both abject and relative, continue to rise,while millions live without shelter.

“Our Movement will ensure public investment in provisioning basic social services in health, education, energy, housing, mass transportation are substantially increased to reverse the current trend.’

“The Movement rejects the rising energy cost, urging workers to remain vigilant and ready to mobilise to resist any further increase in energy costs.

“TPAP-Movement rejects the privatisation program in the economy in general, and in the energy sector in particular. ‘We are going to work with citizens and their organised social forces to resist further privatisations, and to reverse the privatisations already made, and recover the looted public assets thereof”

The group said it will bring “justice to all those oppressed across the social spectrum.*