Peter Bassey|4 February 2018
One of the reasons why I am not enthusiastic about the ‘Not Too Young To Run Bill’ is that, apart from the fact that the bill for the young to lead does not guarantee automatic effective leadership/good governance, the push is coming very late and a typical Nigeria youth is not angry enough to take over power from the old. We still belief our tomorrow as leaders have not come, invariably subscribing to the false belief that the future we want will be created by the old.
In the time past and even now, many fronts have come up in respect to projecting the inclusion of young people in politics and governance. For me the recent trend on social media platforms won’t make much impact, this is because we have failed as a young generation to reckon with history. The truth remains that in Nigeria, the young have featured prominently in politics and governance, to prove this, read biographies and autobiographies of Shehu Shagari, M.T. Mbu, Richard Akingide, Maitama Sule, Audu Ogbeh, the list is endless.
The idea that youth are leaders of tomorrow has rendered a demographic majority to a political minority. What this means is that, while the youths control the majority of vote cast during elections, they end up controlling nothing after elections. This to an extent is contrary to the submission above when evaluating the Sen. Ben Ayade’s administration in Cross River who have given younger people greater responsibility, a reason why I have constantly even among my peers applauded the governor of Cross River.
My pain is not in the trend of using youths and dumping them after elections, my pain is that we will still allow this to continue before and after 2019 elections.
Our problem presently as young people is not in the use and dump syndrome, nor in ethic bigot, political affiliations or party lines, our problem is integrity challenge and the mentality of every youth for himself. The idea that you must demonized and destroy the other youth as long as it guarantees you a spot at the top and typically this is not the kind of a mentality of people who want to design their future by taking over power.
I strongly recommend revolution, a type that within a short period of time, preferably before the next election will cause us to rise in our population, irrespective of APC or PDP, Igbo or Yoruba, Hausa or Orobo and revolt against this old cargoes with our voter’s card. We need to speak in one voice, we need to say no, enough is enough, and we need to starve ourselves of peanuts, allow integrity to come into play if we must succeed. Until you are vexed enough in the spirit the way I do, then this movement and desire will never come.
Is not about carrying placards in support of not too young to run bill, It is about taking a resolution to stop youthful slavery, It is about refusing to sacrifice our tomorrow for today, It’s about integrity, Is about mentality, It’s time to walk the talk.
Peter Bassey
Is a Social Commentator
