Open Letter to Nigerian Youths -Version 2.0

Open Letter to Nigerian Youths -Version 2.0

It is either now or never. This country needs us more than we need the country, we are stranded and at the mercy of a handful of other Nigerians who are hell bent on holding the country to ransom out of their greed for power and money. The onus is on the youths to save not just their future but that of their children and save the land.

The factors below are essential towards that path;

Be involved in the process - It has reached that state that “siddon look” is no longer an option, oh “it’ is well” is no longer applicable, “leave them abeg” is not acceptable anymore. It has become important to know who is representing us at all levels, their pedigree and abilities, those people making laws for us and those interpreting the laws along with the ones executing it must be known, these people are responsible for not just our future but that of our children.

It’s a democratic system, the first stage in being part of the process is to join a political party of your choice, this is not hard at all - most parties have offices at the local wards, join one and be known at the ward. I must say here that joining a party should not be solely for contesting an office. There are many ways one can be useful in the process, you can contribute ideas to develop the community, give support to an existing aspirant that you share similar ideology with or know to be upright, possess a high degree of integrity and honesty.

Support and promote the party of your choice, support could be in form of financial aid to the party or party aspirants or grassroot mobilisation. Elections in Nigeria are very expensive, both for aspirants and the parties. Being in politics comes with a lot of benefits, you are exposed to all the challenges your community is facing and the backdoor blockers and heroes, you would be aware of those who are the friends or enemy of the people. Politics is deep and goes beyond the ordinary eyes – you must belong and be trusted to know the truth.

Still on the parties – it’s advised that you join a frontline party, a party with structures to win elections, Nigeria is a winner take it all system – starting a party with few friends won’t make a difference in this system, Ekiti election as a case study here! Most of the new backyard parties springing up daily because they don’t want to belong to any of the popular parties won’t win a single local government election in this country, the system is designed to favour the elites and the elites are in the frontline parties. 

So why would you want to waste your time and resources on something that is going nowhere? Forget that they say we are in a multiparty system, it is a confirmed two party system at the federal level, APGA is doing well in the south east and that’s because of a handful of moneybags in the party hiding under the name of the great Ikemba of Nnewi – Chief Odumegwu Ojukwu.

How do you make a difference in the frontline parties? – Be known, be heard, be active and contribute within your capacity to the development of your party in your region. There will be challenges but with teamwork, consistency and hard work, success is guaranteed!

Challenge your aspirants/candidates – Don’t just do “follow follow” but ask questions, majority of the aspirants are out to contest for the wrong reasons, ask them questions – they are busy focussing more on “empowerment” over manifestos and surprisingly nobody is asking them any questions. “Empowerment” is a legal way to bribe the people in exchange for their votes. In a civilised country, this is not acceptable and comes with a risk of being jailed for bribery and corruption!

Stand as an aspirant – If you have the urge to serve, ideas to make your community better then do not be afraid and go for it, nobody would know your ability and capability if you are scared to exhibit them. We must understand that the present leaders are not willing to relinquish power, if the desire is to be a leader then be willing to wrestle power via the ballot box, it won’t be easy but it’s not impossible either.

Online rants – Majority of those ranting and complaining online are missing the part where elections are not online but at the grassroots. I have been seeing a number of people that can’t win an election in their ward gunning for the Presidency – yes, the president of the most populous black nation on the planet earth! How are they planning to get this done? There are no polling booths online but at the grassroots, politics is local! And even worse contesting under a party with no structure! This is practically impossible and a complete waste of time and resources. To be a leader, you must be a follower first to a certain degree.

We all must get involved to make a difference; it doesn’t matter in what capacity. Have a look at the template below for your consideration and imagination.

Imagine a scenario where 14 aspirants of a frontline party A are youths out of 16 and before the primaries, they all reach an agreement to combine forces and present just one aspirant in party A and in Party B using the same template. The chances of having a youth vs youth in that contest is higher than all of them contesting or spread across various parties with zero structure!

Worst case scenario from the above path as usual; the moneybags hijacked the election and install their own man as a candidate (That’s not unusual in this part of the world), if that scenario occurs, then to pacify the aspirants when their party eventually wins the election and gains power – they look inward and appoint their party members, in most cases aspirants during elections into core positions in government where they can contribute their quota to the development of the state or country. If the aspirants were youths as suggested above then one way or the other youths are now in government.

There is no other way to effect a peaceful power transition than via the ballot boxes and the first step towards this is joining a party of your choice and give support to this party and their aspirants. Before you go about that how all these parties are the same – I agree but legally a party is required to be part of the electoral process, register to vote and encourage others to do the same.

Nigeria as a country is great and Nigerians are industrious and success-driven people with the unfortunate bane of bad leadership. Our leaders irrespective of their party affiliation are busy with change of leadership positions and chasing unnecessary additional power at the expense of the people they are leading.

Save your country before there is nothing left to be saved – Majority of these leaders you see about are having a second home and checkout plans. Just in case you haven’t noticed, they don’t have their family locally, from the politicians to the entertainers and the religious leaders, including the middle class – everyone is now sending their family abroad just for two things - quality of life and safety, they are just in Nigeria to “Hustle”.

This country belongs to us all and we must do whatever it takes to save it from these gluttons. They have options when it comes to where to call a home but do you?

There are no bad political parties but bad politicians in these parties. Let’s be active and take back what is ours, not necessarily via a revolution but peaceful transition of power.

Tunde Oluomo