Baba Aye's

Comrade Baba Aye, a veteran trade unionist and activist, is Co-Convener, Coalition for Revolution (CORE) and a Council Member of the Progressive International (PI). Baba Aye, a former Deputy National Secretary, Labour Party (LP)  former National Convener, United Action for Democracy (UAD) and Member of the National Implementation Committee of the Campaign for Democracy (CD during the June 12 struggle), in this interview with  EJIKEME OMENAZU , speaks on the State of Emergency in Rivers State among other crucial national issues. Excerpt: How would you react to the recent declaration of a State of Emergency in Rivers State by President Bola Tinubu? President Bola Tinubu’s decla­ration of a state of emergency in Rivers state is ill-motivated and un­dermines the democratisation pro­cess in Nigeria for what it is worth. In one fell swoop, it has set back the democratic project, questionable as it definitely is, by decades. A state of emergency is essentially just another name f...

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...