The leadership of the Labour Party has been following the recent political development in the Republic of Niger, and how Nigeria-led ECOWAS has threatened to lead the regional nations into a war of purging the coupists out of government from our neighboring country.
Though many Nigerians have spoken against the planned military invasion of the Niger Republic, however, Labour Party thinks that a government that is presently lacking legitimacy having forced itself into power in a similar way the putschist did in the Niger Republic cannot be arrogating itself the honour to lead a puritan force against a sovereign nation.
The Labour Party has always maintained that the process leading to any electoral activity is a lot more important than its outcome. You will recall that the processes that led to the 2023 general election were skewed, manipulated, and rigged. A government that came into office through such illegal means does not have the moral justification to begin to query a similar process perpetrated outside the shores of this country.
We believe sincerely that charity should always begin at home. The holy book also said that one needs to remove the log on one’s eyes before talking about a spec on another’s eyes. If elections can be wantonly manipulated which brought about the emergence of the present government in Nigeria then what moral justification does such government has to question similar actions such as the military coup in other countries? A coup is a coup whether by the military or in a democracy, otherwise, how does one explain a situation where the most popular candidate with the supposedly highest number of votes cast in an election is denied the pecks of his popular support by another candidate whose purported victory was aided by some fraudulent government institutions.
Again, the socio-economic situation in the country has so badly deteriorated to the extent that Nigeria is wallowing in abject poverty, hunger, and unemployment. The poor economic policies of the government, the hike in the prices of petroleum products, and the soaring forex situation have further deteriorated the living conditions of the people. So with a country with such an enormous crisis, thinking of waging war against another country or defending democracy is not only laughable but misconceived and misdirected.
Any government policy that does not have a direct bearing or effect in uplifting the living conditions and the living standard of Nigerians should not be embarked upon by the government. We already have enough crises on our hands, from insecurity, hunger, unemployment, poverty, and poor infrastructure amongst others, I think the government has enough tasks to focus on rather than footloose into the internal affairs of another country.
Again, international law precludes nations such as Nigeria from interfering in the internal affairs of other sovereign countries, and therefore, flowing from the aforesaid, it is our candid opinion that the pronouncement of government in meddling in the internal affairs of Niger Republic is uncalled for, unwarranted and unnecessary at this point.
Nigeria cannot be playing the big brother of Africa when the people are hungry. We are giant of Africa only in name but we are far from living up to that expectation. The government needs to think about Nigeria first, we have enormous challenges on our hands. The government must focus on how to restore our economy, rebuild infrastructure, create jobs, and end killings and insecurity in Nigeria rather than waste time, resources, and energy in the affairs of another sovereign nation.
SIGN
Obiora Ifoh
National Publicity Secretary, Labour Party
12-08-2023
