By Marcus Ekure.
A mentor once told me that Marcus, if you want to conquer or hold a man perpetually bound and enslaved to you, create a make believe unattainable hope for him. Make the hope so attractive, real and close but delusive or illusionary as he gets closer!
The hope capital is one of the strongest and most potent weapon that can be applied in any circumstance and situation! For instance, imagine the number of Nigerian youths who have been leveraging a robust part of their lives on promises of a better tomorrow that may never come, promissory notes issued to them by their so called leaders!
You have been serving the man you call your leader for 15 or 20 years, and he has never attempted to carve a niche for you despite your contributions to his or her vision! Every time, he or she tells you, ”don’t worry, I have a plan for you”! The most he can do is to be giving you money whenever you are in need so that before long, you are seen as a liability whose call must not be answered anymore!
A son of a Judge once told me a story of how a poor woman, whose two sons just graduated from the University, brought a bag of garri, 5 big tubers of yam, and roasted fishes to a his father in quest for job opportunities for her sons. The father collected the CVs of the boys from the woman and requested the food items to be taken to the kitchen and that was the end. But 15 years later, after the death of the man, the son was cleaning up one of the shelves in the sitting room when he came across those same CVs at the exact spot the late father kept them the day the woman came with her sons 15 years ago. In conclusion, the son, after narrating the story to me, added that, the woman and her children left with excitement after his father received their CVs and promised to look into it unknowing to them that their CVs may not even be attended to. That was hope capital in display. It might not really be the man’s fault like the son said, ” once you are a big man, people just assume you have the solution they are seeking without minding whether you have been able to solve yours or not,”. A rich man who has not been able to secure jobs for his unemployed children cannot fix you up job wise! Get it straight and stop running after one man as if your life depends on him.
What about you who have been following that your political Oga for 10, 15 to 20 years? What tangible evidence can you really show for it? I once worked my whole life for a politician who at the onset wanted me to name my price but i decided to chose the option of working for future which was I considered the right thing to do! Right in my very eyes, those who where after money built houses, bought cars from the man even without the faintest effort or controbution towards the vision. But what was the outcome of the choice I made? Months latter, I met him for sponsorship for our youth empowerment activities. You want to hear the response? After our brilliant and powerful presentation, he greeted our effort and told us he would have been very glad to associate with our noble vision but that the timing was wrong for him. That was not even the part that pained me! He added that the little resources at his disposal at that moment was being channeled into building his political structure in the state. And I asked my self, ”what is the political structure outside the people”? This is why many of them are not good politicians!
The worst set of politicians are seen in Nigeria! They are only interested in dates of elections, not the people at all! That is why they either change their lines or stop picking your calls mediately they win elections until dates of next elections! Many of their followers are lavishing and lamenting under the anguish of dissatisfaction and anger! But the question is why would many still prefer to follow despite the lamentation of grudges and dissatisfaction? The answer is simply : HOPE CAPITAL!
Their hopes are being renewed regularly with unmanifesting manifestoes. Better still, call it illusionary or imaginary expectations. Many who got elected in the last election have not been able to stain their supporters with the faintest portion of joy both in benevolence and in achievements, yet their 4 years tenure is almost running out! But their supporters are still engineered to hope more on the premise that next tenure might be better as if they can see the future!
Besides, loyalty to the leader, when political party is involved, most times words such as party is supreme and party loyalty are used to strangulate them further.
These are nothing but o’level display of ignorance and pretence as there is no word as LOYALTY when humans are involved. What this means is that there is nothing as 99% loyalty! It must be 100% and the only place you find that is the grave. So, no man is truly loyal! Loyalty is not in the saying but the doing!
In other for the youths not to discover this bondage and enslavement, in other for their eyes not be opened, they constantly create ideological conflict amongst them, dividing their interests along party lines, thereby making it impossible for the Nigerian youths to have one voice. For instance, today on social media, if an APC youth makes a post, PDP or Labour parties youths may not see anything good in such post and vise versa.
The unity of the Nigerian youths is the sacrificial lamb needed for the atonement and salvation of Nigeria but our current crop of leaders are spending so much to ensure this lamb is not sacrificed! Their mission is to stop the Nigerian youths from being discovered and to achieve this, they believe the youths must be kept impoverished and beggarly!
Way forward in the light of the failed leadership as evident in the multi dimensional plagues currently ravaging our nation, is a New Nigeria. And by New Nigeria, I mean government of the young, not the old! To achieve this, the youths must be prepared to offend their leaders, even brake lose if possible and chant the song of solidarity for every capable youth or young person that would stand out come 2019! You don’t need to be my friend, wife, girl friend, brother or neighbor to earn my campaign and support, just show forth you leadership model or manifesto matched with your good pedigree and antecedence! Then you are good to go!
If you are a youth and you believe in the youth, share this post.
God bless the New Nigeria.
