Press Statement
Our
attention has been drawn to the usage by Senator Musiliu Obanikoro of a picture
on his official facebook page and twitter handle. This picture which has been
designed as part of the social media materials to campaign for his political
aspirations in Lagos State shows students, leaders of the Education Rights
Campaign (ERC) and civil society activists marching behind a #SaveLASU banner
and calling for the reversal of fee hike at the Lagos State University (LASU).
We
will like to expressly dissociate the Education Rights Campaign (ERC) from
Senator Musiliu Obanikoro’s political aspirations and campaign and/or any other
misrepresentations of ourselves that the usage of our picture in his campaign
materials conveys.
From
our record, the said picture is that of the first protest march to the State
House of Assembly on February 18, 2014 organized by the #SaveLASU Campaign
Movement – a coalition formed by the ERC, Lagos State University Students
Union, National Union of Lagos State Students (NULASS) and other radical
groups.
We
recognize the right of everyone including Senator Musiliu Obanikoro to make use
pictures of public events including protests such as everyone does whether on
social media or other platforms. However caution and restraint is required
especially when usage of certain pictures or images could create wrong
impressions including encouraging political interpretations that may not be in
the best interest of the organizations and individuals depicted in the image.
By
using this picture which has the banner of the movement as well as faces of the
leadership of the ERC as well as other civil society activists, the impression
could be created that perhaps the ERC and other initiators of the #SaveLASU
movement are supportive of Senator Obanikoro’s political aspirations.
It
is therefore imperative that we again reiterate the fact that both during and
after the victorious struggle for reversal of LASU fee hike, the ERC has never
failed to stress the fact that neither the All Progressive Congress (APC) or
the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) can truly and genuinely guarantee the
provision of a properly funded and democratically managed public education.
We
canvass this position because both political parties subscribe to the same
anti-poor capitalist philosophy of privatization and the commercialization
which are responsible for the pricing of education out of the reach of the
poor. This explains why even as the struggle to reverse LASU fees raged, the
PDP-led Federal Government was busy presiding over hike in fees at Federal
Universities like the Obafemi Awolowo University (OAU) Ile-Ife. Last year,
public universities were shut for six months because lecturers downed tools
when Federal government failed to implement agreements with them. Today, and
despite closure for about year, the threat of further disruption is still
hanging over public polytechnics and colleges of education like the sword of
Damocles.
From
this background, it should be clear to anyone that neither the PDP nor the APC
stands for anything fundamentally different. A victory for either political
parties in the 2015 elections will most definitely result into further privatization and
commercialization of education at all levels and increase of fees. It is for
this same reason that the ERC cannot offer support for either the PDP and the
APC or any of their candidates in the forthcoming 2015 general elections.
In
any case we believe that a new political party that represents the interests of
workers, youths and the poor need to be built to take political power not only
in Lagos state but in the entire country. This is why we have pitched our tent
with the Socialist Party of Nigeria (SPN) – a new political party which is
presently challenging the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) in
court for its registration. The absence of a genuine political party of the
workers and poor masses is why politicians like Senator Musiliu Obanikoro are
bold enough to attempt to cleverly use the struggle of the people to further
their own political aspirations.
Whether
the SPN’s struggle for registration as a political party is concluded or not by
the time of the 2015 general elections, genuine Socialists will continue to
fight for the emergence of a working people’s political alternative party in
order to achieve a permanent economic and political respite for the working and
poor people. We enjoin all those who participated in the struggle for the
reversal of LASU fees and equally all those who are inspired by this victorious
struggle to join us to forge a political weapon to take control of our country
from the capitalist marauders.
Hassan
Taiwo Soweto
Michael Ogundele
National
Coordinator National
Secretary
07033697259
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