From Thursday, 29th to Saturday, 31st August 2024, Corporate Accountability and Public Participation Africa (CAPPA) joined the 2024 All-African Movement Assembly (AAMA) in Accra, Ghana, convened by Africans Rising. Attracting hundreds of activists, social movements, civil society representatives and active citizens from all 55 African countries, the gathering provided a vital opportunity for participants to interrogate the structural crises facing the continent and strategize on deepening public participation in governance and advancing social justice.
Representing CAPPA, Zikora Ibeh, Senior Programme Manager, and Gideon Adeyeni, Program Officer, contributed to key conversations that examined the role of neoliberal and capitalist policies in catalyzing abnormal social conditions such as modern-day slavery. While co-facilitating a side event on “Fighting Against All Forms of Human Trafficking, Modern-Day Slavery, and Discrimination Based on Work and Descent,” Zikora Ibeh highlighted how an unbalanced global financial and economic structure forces African countries into debt and deprioritizes investment in social and human development.
As economic opportunities shrink under the weight of privatised services and under such unfortunate circumstances that often manifest in the brutal commercialisation of essential services, such as water, healthcare, and education, vulnerable populations—particularly women and children fall out as the biggest victims, susceptible to exploitative labour practices and violent attacks on their dignity as they struggle to survive a system that profits from their misery.
During one of the plenaries at the assembly, Gideon Adeyeni broadened the conversation by challenging traditional understandings of Pan-Africanism. He argued that Pan-Africanism must evolve into a broader framework that not only unites Africans on the continent but also builds solidarity with oppressed peoples globally. In his view, the struggle against capitalism and imperialism cannot be limited to Africa alone. It must be a global movement that confronts oppression wherever it occurs, recognising that the forces that exploit Africa are the same ones wreaking havoc across the Global South and beyond.
As the assembly progressed, the shrinking of civic space across Africa took center stage in discussions. Leading the charge, CAPPA’s Gideon Adeyeni, alongside other Nigerian activists, staged a powerful solidarity action demanding the immediate release of Adaramoye Michael Lenin, who had been illegally detained by the Nigerian government following his involvement in the nationwide #EndBadGovernance protests earlier in August. Abducted by Nigeria’s secret police on August 5, Lenin was blindfolded, thrown into a cell, and denied legal representation, family visitation, and medical attention.
The government has since escalated charges against him, accusing him of terrorism, a crime punishable by death in Nigeria. His case, like that of many others detained unjustly, reflects the systemic criminalization of public dissent and grassroots mobilization. This repression of activism serves as a tool for maintaining capitalist dominance, silencing voices that challenge the status quo. The solidarity action, which drew the participation of activists from across Africa, underscored the continent-wide struggle against similar forms of state repression.
Throughout the three-day assembly, participants reaffirmed the need to strengthen solidarity among African peoples and their descendants, emphasising the importance of collective resistance against capitalist exploitation. The discussions underscored that the fight for a just and equitable society requires dismantling the global capitalist system and replacing it with structures rooted in public ownership, social welfare, and communal solidarity. Participants also engaged in bonfire nights and visited historic sites, including Ghana’s Cape Coast Castle, a major slave-trading hub during the 18th century.
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