Nigeria Left

I have constructed this definition from several sources including Comrade Eskor Toyo, Comrade Biodun Jeyifo, and Karl Marx himself. It is an ideological and political definition: simple, but not simplistic, and designed for popular education.

They are: constructing a unified organisation of the Nigerian Left; drafting a people’s manifesto; inserting into Nigeria’s electoral politics (as organised groups); and seeking electoral and non-electoral alliances.

To appreciate, more fully, the current wave of political re-alignments in Nigeria and be able to make informed projections, we may need to go back to the Nigerian Civil War of (1967-1970) and the long preparation for the Second Republic (1979-1983).

To demystify, without underrating the current wave of political re-alignments in Nigeria—and make bold but useable projections—Nigerian Leftists need to look back at the country’s recent political history and trace the trajectory from May 1999—the beginning of the present “dispensation” which con

However, because the situation is not ideal—and this is the subject of the memo—I am moving directly to the public. The message in the memo comes at the end of the article. It is a short and direct one.

As the Left now prepares to “diversify” its politics by participating in future electoral contests through combinations and alliances, it is necessary to step up the struggle against this almost chronic weakness. The following recollection is a statement and an illustration of the problem.