The Choice Before Nigeria in the 2023 Elections: Part 3 of 4
A defining moment for regime change to true democracy, true federalism and true civilian regime.
Demography and Political Change
There is a generational change which our politicians seem not to understand. With this generational change are the changes that have taken place in the society, which in turn has affected the economy and society at large. Consider those who were born in 1984, when Buhari came to power in a coup. Assume they went to school in 1990, and probably went through primary and secondary school and graduated from secondary school in 2002/2003, aged 12 or 13; those of them who went on to tertiary institutions, graduated in 2008/9/ or 10 (then aged 24 to 26). For them names like Nnamdi Azikiwe, Obafemi Awolowo, Ahmadu Bello, sound like figures from ancient history. The coups, the civil war, and their effect on their lives today seem vague, even though their parents had high hopes that when they finish school, they would find some employment, alas many of them have no jobs. In 2015 when this Nigeria’s -generation next was about 30 years old, this same Buhari returned to power again as a retired General.
According to the National Bureau of Statistics , the incidence of unemployment among the youths is 42.5 per cent; so half of those 18 and above registered to vote are unemployed. What is their view of politics? The political leaders they know are those politicians who came to power since 1999 when they were in their teens. Their experience of political life and elections, if they were observant enough, would be what happened in 2007, 2011, 2015 and 2019. In those years Buhari was always on the ballot wanting to lead the country. The generation next may have participated in bringing him to power, the only political “hero” they knew. Otherwise, they have really never seen democratic governance in action. Their experience of politics is the cash-and- carry politics of stomach infrastructure or political parties hiding under the mantra of ethnicity and/or religion to divide the people. The so called dominant political parties : PDP(Peoples Democratic Part) and APC ( All Peoples Congress ) have no coherent ideology nor political ideals that inspire patriotism. There is nothing democratic about the way the PDP operates, nor is there anything progressive about the APC. Our generation-next sees the parties as mere gangs of robbers united by one thing viz, state capture and plunder of state treasury by any means possible.
For the younger generation, the outcome of this type of politics is nothing but inhumane, dog-eat-dog, and a game for the big boys who have managed to capture the state institutions and use them for their selfish ends. They see nothing in politics about the public interest, only selfish interests which results in poverty, insecurity, poor health conditions , poor educational facilities and a general breakdown of law and order for the masses.
But this younger generation has one advantage, they are the children of the IT age, a generation whose stock in trade are computers, laptops, smart phones, internet access, networking of all things , and lately of artificial intelligence. They travel to far away places vicariously. News of the world come to them instantaneously. They think differently from their parents, their worldview is beyond the horizon of their parents including the treasury looters. Some of them now sit down in Ajengule or Festac town working for a company in Silicon Valley or New York or Beijing. This vast human resource is what Peter Obi and Datti Ahmed are reminding us as the major resource for remaking Nigeria before all of them emigrate out of the country to better climes. LET US NOT WASTE OUR MOST VALUABLE RESOURCE – HUMAN BEINGS.
The world has shrunk in space and time., and our children are part of this new world. Most of them have travelled vicariously to many places and are part of a world where people of my age could not have imagined. As their international anthem says, “we are the world, we are the children…Let us make a better world for you and me….”
,This is the generation that form the backbone of the Obi-Datti Obedient Movement. They want change, they want it now. They have chosen their leaders to help them usher in A New Nigeria, which they see as Possible. With God , all things are Possible. I believe that God’s hand is in this movement to salvage Nigeria from the doldrums of poverty of body and mind. They want to move in a different trajectory with leadership who have the Competence, Capacity and Character to lead a country like Nigeria with its myriads of problems as well as potentials. . They want to re-introduce basic morality, decency and rule of law into our public life. A new political culture is in the offing.
They see change coming with the Obi- Datti ticket and they are determined to recreate the politics of Nigeria in their own image of a humane society based on rule of law and love for one another as citizens of the same country. A country governed by honest men and women with integrity of character; an open society with equal opportunity for all irrespective of conditions of birth or status of the parents. Their outlook transcends ethnicity and religion – the great divider of nations and the source of many -a-conflicts.
This will involve also constitutional and institutional restructuring , a change of mind-set and adoption of a new political game plan. in short , the young ones are asking through OBI-DATTI ticket for a regime change to a proper civilian politics under the rule of law. I think the Youth of this country has a good case and they have presented it with dignity and decorum.
THAT IS WHY WE NEED TO VOTE IN OBI-DATTI INTO POWER THIS YEAR.
It has been argued in some quarters that the Obi-Datti ticket will find it difficult to govern because the Labour Party has only few candidates running for the Senate and House of Representatives on its platform. The 1999 Constitution no where says that a President must have a majority of his party men in the National Assembly to be able to function as a president. IT IS ONLY A RED HERRING. In fact, the Constitution specified functions of each arm of government and also provides processes and rules of interaction between and among the three branches of government.
If those elected on the platform of the old regimes of cash and carry , stomach infrastructure politics are unwilling to perform their constitutional functions, or become a barrier to change, they will only help to hasten the revolution that will sweep all of them away’.