An Igbo Think-Tank group, Alaigbo Development Foundation (ADF) has warned that President Bola Tinubu is hellbent on “plunging Nigeria into another ugly era of extreme authoritarianism and totalitarianism” and should not be encouraged in any way by individuals or organisations in the country.
In a statement issued in Enugu on Wednesday and jointly signed by Prof. Ukachukwu Awuzie and Abia Onyike, the group’s National President and National Secretary respectively, ADF condemned the “intimidation and harassment of civil society leaders.”
The ADF condemned what it called “the on-going incessant and serial harassment, arrest and intimidation mounted against the President of Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), Joe Ajaero by the security agencies of the Federal government of Nigeria, accusing President Bola Tinubu of selling out to international capitalist cartels to the detriment of the economic wellbeing of Nigerians.
ADF described as unfortunate President Tinubu’s alleged decision to toe this ignoble line whereby he uses the security agencies to deploy force and intimidation to implement his anti-people economic policies.
“The ADF views this ill-advised strategy of intimidation and harassment of civil society leaders as an admission by the Tinubu administration that it has failed woefully to defend the nation’s democracy, because of the catastrophic failure it has recorded in its economic policies, which have yielded nothing but mass poverty and unbelievable level of hunger amongst the citizenry,” ADF said in the press statement it released..
“In fact, we dare to admit that the Tinubu administration now constitutes a major affront on Nigeria’s hard-won democracy. It is unfortunate that President Tinubu has decided to toe this ignoble line whereby he uses the security agencies to deploy force and intimidation to implement his anti-people economic policies, after having sold out to international finance capital and the imperialist metropolis of the North-Atlantic Western powers.
“The ADF wishes to call on President Tinubu to retrace his steps by reviewing his draconian economic policies before it gets too late. He should review his anti-people policies now instead of using crude tactics to crack down on leaders of mass organizations thereby plunging Nigeria to another ugly era of extreme authoritarianism and totalitarianism.
“The ADF supports the intervention of popular-democratic organizations, the labour movement and civil society groups in their opposition against Tinubu’s vicious economic policies.
“We appreciate the fact that the Nigerian labour movement today represents the only strong banner of opposition that can challenge the Tinubu administration after the National Assembly and the Judiciary have been weakened. This explains the desperation of the regime and its determination to decimate the leadership of the labour movement.”
The group called on President Tinubu to retrace his steps by reviewing his draconian economic policies before it gets too late.
