By Chidi O. Uwabuofu
As a country, Nigeria has the potential to grow in every way possible and it is worthy of note that since independence the seemingly slow pace in our development, as for me, is attributable to incompetent leadership and the tradition of money politics. In Nigeria, regardless of her wealth in human resources, of persons who seemingly have good intentions, vision and the zeal to lead, birdbrains who may not have insights on what leadership and governance entail can comfortably win elections into public offices if they have money to throw around to the vulnerable and pauperised populace.
In the same vein, unfortunately, most Nigerian political parties give out their party’s tickets to highest bidders or individuals willing to offer more money to the party leaders and delegates without taking cognizance of the individual’s credentials. Literarily, these money spraying politicians see politics only as business rather than as an instrument for social development. So how can such individuals succeed or deliver on their promises of good governance? 2019 general elections is close by and I know the same sets of politicians are already warming up to deceive us once again with their usual tactics. We must shine our eyes!
The 19 good years of our democratic experimentation fell under the aegis of these crops of recycled leaders yet our problems seem to be even getting worse. They have got it wrong on all fronts. Nothing seems to be working in Nigeria. The only thing I know that is perfectly working is that these individuals who are at the helm of power won’t fail to collect their bumper salaries at the end of each month. Is it not yet clear to us that they do not have what it takes to push our embattled country forward? Against this backdrop, it is therefore dangerous to continue to put any trust into this band of politicians that have destroyed our ancestral legacies and retarded our natural progress.
To restore back the dream of our progenitors and to make Nigeria work, Nigerian youths must take action now; arise from their perpetual slumber and stop complaining of marginalisation, corruption and bad leadership. Though, over the years, they have been undermined by been called Senior Special Advisers and Personal Assistants, sidelined politically and turned into objects of empowerment, beggars, political tools and electoral material hijackers by quasi leaders who believe that the youth cannot yet take up the mantle of leadership and thus should remain perpetual followers. Sadly too, most of us youths have accepted this ugly situation as our fate.
Be that as it may, I believe that the time is now for our youths as well as new hands (elders) to wake up from their slumber; break that jinx and take up the mantle of leadership through political involvement and vying for public offices in credible elections. We should rise up from our slumber and find our relevance within the political sphere. Nigerian youths deserve better and it’s time to command good governance by our actions as youths, shove up support for youths in governance and stage a peaceful revolution. However, what counts against us, the youth is that most of us have already giving up on our dear country and as such have little or no time to ruminate or ponder on our country’s situation and evoke a possible way forward. This best explains why most of us at the slightest opportunity strive to travel out from our country for greener pastures elsewhere even though that implies living degraded lives, while most of us are comfortable spending the whole lot of the day on the internet; chatting on Whatsapp for an entire night trying to impress some girls that will never add value to our lives; engage in ponzi schemes hoping to be millionaires overnight; stake our little money on sport betting hoping to win millions by chance while also living our fake glamorous lives on Facebook, Instagram and other social media forums when reality stare at us in our miseries.
Some others bemoan the bad leadership in the country but do nothing to address the state of affairs. It pains me seeing some of our youths who are already ripe to take up the mantle of leadership defending failed leaders only because they are on their pay rolls or they believe they needed their mentorship and connections to grow politically. Ahead of 2019 general elections, some of our youths have even started campaigning for some of these failed politicians seeking for a 2nd, 3rd and 4th terms; they take to the social media on daily basis, even to the extent of quarrelling among themselves only because they were given stipends to recharge their phones, buy internet data, pay their rents, buy bottles of beer, and probably because they were promised SA’s and PA’s after they might have won elections.
It would be foolish and cowardly to ignore reality starring us in the face. We all have to rise from our slumber now and teach these bad leaders lessons, take back what originally belongs to us. Teach them how to play politics and what it means to lead by participating directly in the socio-economic and political arrangements and re-engineering of our country. We cannot wait until we become rich and affluent before getting involved in this noble agenda.
It was during my unprecedented evangelistic campaign while I was contesting for the office of the Local Government chairman of my council area (Ukwuani) in the just concluded Delta State LG polls with the intention to rekindle the desire in our youths to see themselves as an integral parts of the country that I saw how narrow minded most Nigerian youths are. My heart bled, when I was asked by my fellow youth if I had a car and money before coming out to contest as if having a car or borrowing money to throw around were criteria and/or requirements for holding a public office. This shows how backward our youths are. I do not blame them altogether but the politicians…
Personally, I believe that a people-oriented ambition should not be allowed to die because of lack of money.
We must understand that leadership and politicking is not a sole preserve of the rich and mighty as its being played out across African countries. Today youths can lead in any capacity and bring the much needed transformation in the system better than our prejudiced supposed experienced elders who believe that the youths must continue to be learners until they exit planet earth. It is an aberration when youths still continue to see themselves as no fit for governance and for any meaningful change in the country just because they do not have cars or money. Today, we need to begin to look to the future with hope and pride in our hearts that beyond being millionaires which is the craze of our society that we can make our dear country Nigeria better for the good of all.
The kind of revolution we envisage for now can only be facilitated through youth’s participation in a credible election. It is only through the instrumentality of election we can take the bull by its horns. Regrettably, we are yet to get it right in the conduct of our elections. This is not just an opinion but an experience – and it appears to be the norm to us. In the just concluded Delta LG polls which I participated we received reports as well as results from our agents across the polling units in Ukwuani Local Government that the elections were marred by brazen malpractice in various forms such as handing money to electorates in the name of canvassing as they queued to vote in order to corrupt their conscience; destruction of ballot boxes at polling units with strong presence of opposition, submitting large amounts of already thumb printed ballot papers from nowhere with the cooperation of election officials and security agents, unchallenged intimidation and molestation of our party agents in presence of security personnels. All these are perpetuated by the youth who have been paid by some desperate politicians who wants to win by all means. We know quite for sure that these are the regular underhand tactics employed in winning elections in our country, Nigeria. We have to stop this nonsense now and for once start doing things the right way. No good leader will ever emerged from a rigged election. With the help of the youth, the bad and desperate politicians usually rig out the good ones thereby leaving us with grave and undesirable consequences from bad governance.
We need to sanitize or demonitize politics and redefine grassroot governance. There are better ways of playing politics – without handing out money or other forms of material inducements, without rigging or violence but with a thorough, holistic and fact based sensitization campaign, with a true heart of love for the people and with a clear vision of where our societies need to be. Under this atmosphere, even the poor can lend their voices, their time and their resources to uplift our local government, our state and our country.
We have to embrace politics without money in our country, so that leaders will emerge and not rulers, servants to the people and not bosses. When we play a no money politics, elected leaders will work and not refill the emptied and borrowed pockets. They will not be under pressure to pay back all they have spent. Only then can we conquer hunger and bring the needed development in our society.
Arise Nigerian youths!
Chidi O. Uwabuofu, Social Democratic Party, (SDP) Chairmanship Candidate in the Last Delta State Local Government Elections in Ukwuani LGA, A Social Crusader and Grassroots Sport Promoter
