By Omole Ibukun
I worked at the Iva Valley Bookshop between 2021 and 2022 as a researcher and writer for publications on trade union issues (This almost sounds like an admission to the commonized offence of treason now, lol). In that period I was inspired that the bookshop was something that should be replicated in every state trade union headquarters and student union building across Nigeria. Interestingly, I think I suggested it to Drew himself at some point. In my time there, I remember helping a friend and Comrade buy about fifty books to start a similar space in his personal abode at my alma mater, OAU. The books in that bookshop are so rare, and the rarest political thoughts (from all corners of humanity) that they will not allow our lecturers to teach us in school again could be found there. This is why I think the attack on Iva Valley Bookshop, especially the part of carting all of the books away is a continuation of the intentional attack on education and knowledge by this government.
The claim by the government that Iva Valley is a front for sleeper cells about to overthrow the government is the most spurious allegation I have heard since the Tinubu administration started concocting allegations against #EndBadGovernance. They went as far as changing Drew’s nickname ‘Drew Povey’ to ‘Drew Povich’ just so that they could make his name sound Russian. There is only one reason why they did that. They are desperate to find something that can fit into the conspiracy theory that they started with the Russian flags and the nickname of another friend and Comrade, Adaramoye Micheal (Micheal ‘Lenin’). The reason why are desperate to find anything that can give some credibility to their conspiracy theory is that they are used to getting away with the worst human rights abuses and corruption with such conspiracy theories. Before now, the go-to conspiracy theory used to be based on tribal differences. Now that our generation of Nigerian have seen beyond tribe, thanks to #EndSARS and #EndBadGovernance protests, the new victim of the conspiracy theory is foreign invasion. This conspiracy theory could have worked if Nigerians had not known that Tinubu himself is a symbol of foreign invasion by the IMF and World Bank.
This reason why they continue to attack education with fee hikes and increment in minimum admission age is that the Nigerian ruling elites are waging a conscious war to systematically make us ignorant and easy to dominate. The reason why #EndBadGovernance protests were attacked was because the protests became more educative as it linked the immediate realities of the masses to the alternative ideals of governance that the Nigerian people should embrace. That knowledge gave us hope, and Tinubu is only angry that we are no longer wallowing in hopelessness that comes with not knowing what to do. They have somehow tried to repress our thinking faculties that they now make it sound like saying #TinubuMustGo is a crime. Meanwhile, basic social studies should have taught us that a president is a public servant that we can mobilise ourselves to fire anytime we like.
The reason why they continually attack our journalists, whistleblowers, protesters, labour leaders and bookshop owners is because THEY DON’T WANT US TO KNOW! Everyone they have picked up and attacked have something in common – they enhance our ability to know. They enhance our ability to know the depth of the problem and the feasibility of the alternative.
The reason why Iva Valley Bookshop, that I was a part of, is under attack is that THEY DO NOT WANT US TO KNOW. The fact that Drew, the owner, has a British face is just icing on the cake to further push the Russian invasion propaganda, because they know that most Nigerians don’t know the difference between a British face and a Russian face. The same Tinubu that did not fear Russian invasion when he was rushing to do the bidding of the West by invading Niger – that same Tinubu only cares about suppressing us all, and we will be doing a disservice to ourselves if we let this civilian dictatorship stand. This is my argument for the recurring hashtag #TinubuMustGo
