White Woman Protesting Against Buhari In London Explains Action

A white woman and member of the Socialist Party in the United Kingdom has joined the ongoing protest against Nigeria’s President Muhammadu Buhari in London.

The woman, whose name was not given, spoke to BBC Pidgin in a live Facebook video broadcast monitored by THE WHISTLER on Wednesday.

According to the woman, she joined the protest to reject “corrupt and rotten” politicians who enjoy the wealth of the world while leaving workers in their countries to suffer.

“I’m here from the socialist party in England and Wales. We are sister party of the Democratic Socialist Movement in Nigeria and we are here in solidarity with the working class and youths in Nigeria who are having to fight to defend their rights to protest and fighting the SARS (defunct police Special Anti-Robbery Squad), task force and police, and now this situation. Doctors in Nigeria are on strike starting from last week because of the rotten treatment of health workers during the pandemic just like the NHS workers here are having to fight for a 15% pay rise.

“You can see in every country, it’s the workers at the fore who are suffering, it’s the workers at the fore who have organized their own political voice.”

Pointing at the Abuja House building where President Buhari is currently staying for his medical vacation, the white woman said: “We cannot trust these big business representatives, corrupt and rotten, enjoying the wealth of the world while workers are suffering, losing their lives and livelihoods in the pandemic.

“Many Nigerian workers are amongst those workers in the NHS who are fighting for a 15% pay rise and we support them. We support the striking doctors in Nigeria, we support the protesting youths, we support the young people here fighting for a decent occupation and we support the socialist party in Nigeria that is trying to build a new voice for the working class.”

The white protester added that, “It’s time to stand up with a voice that says no to privatization, no to raising the price of oil and gas in one of the biggest oil producing countries of the world.”

THE WHISTLER recalls that President Buhari had departed Abuja, the nation’s capital, on March 30 and is expected back in the country in the second week of April.

The president’s Senior Special Adviser on Media and Publicity, Femi Adesina, had said the trip was for a “routine medical check-up.”

Since his arrival at the Campden Hill area of Kensington, London, where the Abuja House is located, different groups of Nigerians have been protesting and demanding that the president returned to the country to receive medical care in a Nigerian hospital.

The current visit makes it President Buhari’s 12th medical trip to the British capital since he assumed office six years ago.