Yesterday there was a
gigantic rally of protest in Lagos. The mood of anger simmering below the
surface for so long is now erupting onto the streets of the cities and towns of
Nigeria. This process marks the beginning of the end of the Obasanjo regime.
Nigeria is poised to join the many other countries where the masses have
successfully overthrown rotten regimes that are there only to serve the rich.
At
the end of August the Obasanjo regime in Nigeria upped the price of fuel massively. This has
provoked widespread anger among the workers and poor. Today the first of a
series of rallies is taking place. Here we publish the text of a special
leaflet produced for the occasion by the Nigerian Marxists of the Workers’
Alternative journal.
The National Question in Nigeria is probably one of the most
complicated in the world - with over 120 languages spoken, three main
ethnic groups, none of which constitutes a majority of the population,
and the religious divide between Christians in the south and Muslims in
the north. Over the past few years thousands of people have been killed
in ethnic clashes. Unless the working class can offer a way out,
Nigeria could be dragged into a bloodbath of barbaric proportions. Here
we are publishing a collection of articles from the Nigerian Marxist
journal, the Workers' Alternative, concerning this question.