The Joint Action Force (JAF) has stressed that while it is not opposed to the idea of Dialogue or National Conference or Sovereign National Conference or by whatever name it is called, such an undertaken should not be at the instance of the same members of the ruling cabal and their recruits who have suddenly become “champions of National Dialogue.”
In a clarification of its position issued on Tuesday by Comrade Abiodun Aremu, JAF Secretary, the group acknowledged that in the calls for the undertaking, it believed there were few patriots who are genuinely committed to the resolution of the crises in the Nigerian polity through social dialogue.
“But the concern of JAF is that majority of those calling for the ND, NC or SNC are members and fronts of the ruling cabal and political parties who want to re-negotiate among themselves the conditions under which they will continue to enjoy their privileges while keeping the majority of the people poor and powerless,” the statement said.
It noted that the failure by the ruling cabal and office holders at the three levels of government and their collaborating political jobbers to deliver on electoral promises and ensure responsible governance, has been responsible for the political instability, ethnic and religious suspicion and violence, and the insecurity of life and property being daily aggravated by the perpetration of condemnable violence, citing such groups as the Boko Haram, MEND and Amnesty palliatives-excluded Niger Delta militants, ethnic militias and other yet-identified groups who have turned the country into a theatre of bombing, kidnapping, hostage taking, sophisticated armed robbery and gang warfare.
“If a Conference becomes inevitable to address the national question and resolve the decades of political and economic decadence; it should be a Conference of the Exploited and Oppressed Working people and the poor who have genuine reasons for their anger and frustration against the existing ruling cabal, whose callousness and inimical policies have been responsible for the decades of injustice, dehumanisation, poverty and wants, ethnic and minority marginalization and hatred, bad governance, looting and sharp corrupt practices, underdevelopment, subservient to foreign political and economic dictates, etc,”
JAF observed that the major task before Nigerians is the unity of the social forces across the country on a national agenda to redeem the country from the present class of looters and profiteers who are located in every ethnic and religious group.
It reiterated its position that what is required is System Change, explaining:
“Nigeria is rich. The wealth belongs to the people. Most Nigerians are hungry, have no jobs, no education, no healthcare, no potable water, no electricity supply and no affordable transportation. Most cannot feed their families or educate their children. Those who are lucky to have jobs are not much different. They also cannot afford a decent living for their families.
“On the other hand, there is a very tiny group of Nigerians who have cornered the wealth that belong to the working people and the poor, who are in the majority. They loot the treasury and use their stolen wealth to sustain themselves in power through their political parties. They use their power to get richer and richer when the poor get poorer and poorer. This is the system of exploitation and oppression. It is the system that brings out the army and the police to kill poor people when they protest against oppression and exploitation.
“We want to change that system and replace it with a system where the working people and the millions of people who are sufferings under the system of exploitation will win power and ensure that the wealth of Nigeria is used to ensure a good life for the majority of the people who are now exploited and oppressed. System change is not replacing one exploiter’s government by another exploiter’s government. It is replacing an exploiter’s government by a people’s government to reorganise Nigeria and put an end to exploitation and oppression
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