Baba Aye's

The latest suicide bombings in Gwazo, in Borno State, caught security agents napping. What do you think about the incident? This development cannot, but fill one’s heart with sadness. My thoughts and sympathies go to the loved ones of the over 30 people killed in that synchronised suicide bomb­ings. The extensive use of women and girls to carry out suicide attacks over the years is a pointer to the heartlessness of the top hierarchy of Boko Haram strategy. Between 2014 and 2017, for example, they used over 200 females for this purpose. That is the highest number of the use of fe­male suicide bombers by any terror­ist group in the world. Some of them were earlier kidnapped and then coerced or brainwashed. That been said, it is also important to note that this recent development is a pointer to the point we have always made that it would be an illusion for the Nigerian government to think they can defeat insurgency in the North­east militarily. Without addressing the underlying cause o...

Since the Fourth Republic, the Leftists have been find­ing it difficult to ascend to political power in Nigeria. The late founder of the National Conscience Party (NCP), Chief Gani Fawehinmi and many of his followers tried several times. But, they could not win elections until the party was delisted by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC). Several Leftist political parties which could not make much im­pression were also delisted when the INEC pruned the number of political parties to 18. Presently only the African Action Con­gress (AAC), formed by Omoyele Sowore, is standing as the major political platform of the Leftists. Gbenga Komolafe, a veteran ac­tivist and the General Secretary, Federation of Informal Workers’ Organisations of Nigeria (FI­WON), who spoke to Sunday In­dependent, said the Progressive Left activists, politicians, parti­sans, and polemicists have been very loud about their critique of the neo-colonial order, now well entrenched and institutionali...

The "June 12 struggle" was an interesting period in Nigeria's history. The story of the struggle goes beyond the election that was annulled and its custodian. And the story of the election and the roles different personages and organisations played in the high drama starts well before the six-year democratic revolution unfurled with the annulment.  I've written a bit about this important, somewhat tragic, somewhat farcical, but none the less definitive moment in Nigeria's history. One of the two articles one might be interested in looking up are " Nigeria: the six year revolution " which which was first published in 2008 in the Working People's Vanguard and again in 2015 in the Socialist Worker . The other is " The shadow of June 12 : June 12, the left and Nigeria's democratic revolution", which was published in the Republic in 2022 and which has been republished in its latest special print issue "Nigeria Imaginary", marking t...

Could you give a brief assessment of the one year of President Bola Tinubu administration ? Tinubu himself gave the clearest perspective for appraising his administration at the so-called G20 compact with Africa economic conference in Berlin last November. Addressing German investors at conference, he boasted that he deserves the Guinness World Records recognition for neoliberal reforms.  Tinubu has been the most effective presidential tool of the capitalist class and imperialism in Nigeria’s history. That is why the IMF and rating agencies like Standard and Poor’s have showered him with praises. Under Tinubu’s watch, big capitalists and multinational corporations have been able to extend their capacity to exploit the working people and natural resources. Tinubu and his cronies are of course beneficiaries as well, as you can see with the award of the Lagos-Calabar superhighway contract. But poor working people and the already squeezed middle class have been the worse off. The r...

May 31st is a day of utmost significance to me, in my personal and political life. And the two days of May 31st that defined me in fundamental ways were in the consecutive years of 1988 and 1989: when I welcomed a brother into my life, and when the events that would shape my political and ideological trajectory for life occurred. Ibukun means Blessing I had grown up for almost seventeen years as the only son. I have four lovely sisters who are dear to me. However, I always longed for a brother for many years. I was doing my A levels at Anwar Ul Islam College Agege in 1987 when my mom became pregnant. By then, it didn’t seem to matter, though somewhere in my heart, I prayed the baby would be a boy like me at last. Momsie's water broke just as I was getting ready for school. Dad dropped me at the Iyana Ipaja bus stop as he took my mom to the same hospital I was born years back. On arriving back home in the evening, I got the news that mo ti r’énikéjì. To say I was elated would ...