Ibukun Omole is a member of Democratic Socialist Movement (CWI in Nigeria).
General elections are scheduled for Nigeria in February and March. February 16 is due to see the election of the president and National Assembly, while on March 2 governors and state assemblies in most of Nigeria’s 36 states, alongside local elections in the federal capital Abuja, are scheduled.
These elections will see the recently registered Socialist Party of Nigeria (SPN) stand for the first time in general elections.
The SPN argues that a large section of Nigerians went into 2015 elections with huge illusions in Buhari and APC’s ability to resolve the woe of the previous 16 years of the PDP government. But the last 3 years have seen a mass disillusionment in the Buhari government as the conditions of the masses have become worse. The question the masses have not been able to answer is why the country is in this mess at all levels despite being blessed with huge human and material resources? The crisis of Nigeria is the crisis of capitalism in a neo-colonial country. Capitalism has to be defeated before Nigeria can realize its full potentials and the human and material resources are used for the benefit all, and not for the insatiable greed of a few. This explanation has to be popularized amongst the masses.
However, this does not mean that the masses can only throw hands up helplessly just hoping for a better time or messiah or falling into despair. The working class people and the masses have to struggle to force the inherently anti-poor pro-capitalist ruling elite/politicians grant some concessions that may improve their conditions even it is temporarily. This has been demonstrated by the working people and youth in various struggles for improvement such as electricity campaign, anti-fuel price hike, anti-school fee hike, minimum wage, etc. But concessions can be taken away or undermined, a fundamental solution is necessary. So, what is missing is a mass party that will actively identify with these struggles and help the working people to link them with overall need to take over political power with a view to ultimately defeat capitalism.
It is against this background that the Socialist Party of Nigeria (SPN) is intervening in the 2019 general elections. The party was formed in 2012 by socialist, trade union and youth activists including members of the Democratic Socialist Movement (DSM). But the party only became officially recognized and able to stand in elections, following a court order in January 2018, after over three years of both legal and political struggles. The electoral commission (INEC) had originally refused to register the party despite it having fulfilled all constitutional, legal and financial requirements.
Electoral period predisposes the masses to a reflection over how they are being governed and how the economy is run. We want to use the election to open dialogue with wider layers of the oppressed people on how government and economy should be run. In other words, we are reaching out to the masses with socialist alternative program including immediate demands for improvement in both working and living conditions. 
