Eze Onyekpere
The age of youth is the age of new ideas and ideals. It is the age of vision, of courage and daring to be different, of renewal and rebirth. It is the age of dreams of progress, development, saying no to stagnation and refusing to be bonded to the old things that directly keep the youth in bondage.
As the 2023 election draws near, there is the need to remind the Nigerian youth of the need to secure their future, their destiny and their place in the comity of the world youth. The central message is for the youth to reject any set of aspirants and candidates that have clearly demonstrated contempt, disgust and lack of interest in the future and present-day circumstances of our youth.
I am writing because I lost my youth to the most rapacious and irresponsible set of leadership ever witnessed on the African continent. A leadership that threw away all opportunities and snatched defeat from the jaws of victory while expecting us to call them patriots, founding fathers and nationalists. I was in primary school when Olusegun Obasanjo became head of state and my first year in university when Muhammadu Buhari became head of state. I graduated and eleven years after I was called to the Nigerian Bar, Obasanjo was recalled by the powers and those who believe they own Nigeria to become a civilian president. In 2015, twenty-seven years after my call to the Bar, retired Major General Muhammadu Buhari came back and he is still there right now. Atiku Abubakar contested the presidential primaries with Moshood Abiola thirty years ago in the Social Democratic Party and he is still aspiring to be president. Nigeria cannot afford to dredge up anyone in the mould of these persons again to serve as president.
It is imperative to recall that most of the front runners in the presidential race in the two major political parties—Peoples Democratic Party and All Progressives Congress—have nothing to do or associate themselves with the youth. They do not understand or appreciate the needs of the youth and they are not making any efforts to reconcile their agenda with the agenda of the youth. One of the candidates in his seventies had the temerity to tell Nigerian youth that their opportunity for leadership will come after he has enjoyed two terms in the presidency. For him, being the president of Nigeria is a life ambition. All I see in these old men is an obsession with power without a proper understanding of what to do with power to meet the fundamental objective of government, being the security and welfare of the people.
The youths were in the vanguard of the #EndSARS movement, a movement meant to protect the sanctity of life and human dignity. The incumbent federal regime unleashed its dogs of war on the youth, killing and maiming a good number. A movement that was meant to protect human dignity was met with a murderous disposition. To make matters worse, the government was in denial, insisting on locutions deliberately antithetical to verities apprehended by the intellect. The government even proceeded to persecute some youths, freezing their bank accounts and seizing their Nigerian passports in denial of the fundamental right to freedom of movement. All the promises made to reform the police and security agencies have been left on the shelves and Lai Mohammed, the Minister of Information continues his trademark of distorting the truth on the #ENDSARS movement. Nigerian youths, how do you plead, and how do you support aspirants that were part of a regime that killed your colleagues and refused to apologise?
The same Federal Government failed, refused and neglected to implement agreements entered with the Academic Staff Union of Universities. The union and universities’ non-academic staff have been on warning strike. For the academic staff, their strike has been on for about two months while the non-academic staff is about a month old. No word from a Federal Government and no interest in resolving the challenge. Yet, the principal members of the regime, including the vice president, ministers and national leader of the party, are aspiring for the presidency with a promise to continue on the “incredibly good works” of the regime. Nigerian youths, the good works of the regime is that you have many more years to stay at home while your universities are closed. The children of these principal members aspiring for the presidency are all schooling overseas or have left the tertiary education system. They are selfish and have no plans for your future. Nigerian youths, how do you plead, and how do you support aspirants that are part of a regime and conspired to deny you the fundamental right to education?
Nigerian youths cannot be seen to be supporting aspirants from a political party that degraded and depreciated the Nigerian currency from N200 to $1 in 2015 to N590 to $1 in 2022, a space of seven years. Monies saved by your parents for your training and future needs in banks and pension funds have been incredibly depreciated and those responsible for the depreciation have no apologies and they are promising or, more appropriately, threatening to continue on the same path. Nigerian youths, how do you plead and how do you support aspirants that are part of a regime that have reduced your standard of living?
We have former governors aspiring for presidency. But their records in the states they led shows a very poor performance. Workers and pensioners were owed salaries and pensions. Monies were borrowed for consumption and the proceeds were not accounted for. And the same set of failures want to be given the opportunity to replicate the failure at the federal level. Evidently, the youth will suffer most if they are allowed to perpetuate their failure.
The two front running parties may likely throw up candidates without the requisite leadership qualities to clear the mess to be left by Buhari’s incompetent and nepotistic leadership. The ruling APC will likely have a candidate imposed by Buhari and his cabal while the PDP will likely be hijacked by money bags and ethnic sentiments of people who believe they are born to rule. If this happens, Nigerian youths owe their future an obligation to reject any attempt at a fait accompli, to select between two candidates that will lead the nation deeper in perdition.
Such a situation will be an opportunity to activate a revolutionary approach to politics in the mobilisation style of the #EndSARS movement to support a credible candidate from any of the other registered political parties. The challenges facing Nigeria – insecurity, collapsing economy, disunity, social decay, etc., require a man or woman of ideas with appropriate energy, vision and passion to begin the process of climbing out of the deep hole. Nigerian youth have the numbers, the energy, the vision and the capacity to determine who leads Nigeria. Stop being trumpets for failed politicians who can only lead the nation to perdition.