Olusegun Dada: What do young Nigerians really want? (Y! Politico)

by Olusegun Dada

occupy protest

The new party comes with a lot of challenges in its baggage.  selecting its candidates for elections, among a long list of favourites…

What do we really want? What do young Nigerians really want? This is a question I have not been able to find an answer to. This is a question that keeps me up at night. I have however come to the conclusion that our minds are and should be the greatest of world’s mysteries.

What do we want? Why are our hearts and minds so messed up? Where do we go from here? What do we tell our kids (if) when they are born (As the rate of maternal deaths are on a rise) ? What do we tell them our role was when Nigeria went from bad to worse? I don’t know if this bothers most people as much as it bothers me. I don’t understand it. I don’t get it.

Ask them for solutions, they tell you the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) is evil. The Alliance for Progressive Change (APC) is just another PDP in the making, and a revolution is not what we need in this country. What then do we need? What then is the solution. To these myriad of problems?

Let’s go through our options again.

PDP:

The PDP has been in government for 14 years and in that time, it has managed to take our nation’s condition from fragile to bad to worse. The PDP is everything that is wrong with this country, the constituents of this group are numerous, they consist of drug lords, murderers, thieves, army generals who have broken all records ever set for embezzling of public funds and worst of all, ex-convicts. Under the PDP some couple of hundreds of billions of dollars has disappeared. Corruption, insecurity, unemployment, education sector almost dead, health sector almost dead, etc.

Nothing is looking up and we claim we are fed up and as soon as the president slams us with a new par boiled policy, we complain some more then go back to whatever it was we were doing before. People die and we no longer fret. We are helpless. Helpless under the PDP.

APC:

The new APC is the conglomeration of the ACN, CPC and the ANPP. These parties before now have been touted regional parties who are now looking to cease power in the center. In the states where the ACN for instance holds sway, they are known for little or no internal democracy, godfatherism and imposition. Still, it is also fascinating to note that some of the governors have done tremendously well if pitted against the PDP governors they are like the proverbial one-eyed man in the land of the blind.

The APC still needs to work on its acceptance and subsequent recognition before it can get the support it needs because young Nigerians are growing cynical and weary about the roles of the people they elect into the position of leadership, and their roles as citizens. This cynicism isn’t limited to just the PDP. The APC will not be and should not be exempted. The new party comes with a lot of challenges in its baggage. Selecting its candidates for elections, among a long list of favorites, but also tackle problems of party finance, party loyalties, and all related complications that will enable them formulate political and policy agendas, select candidates, conduct election campaigns, and monitor the work of their elected representatives.

Revolution:

As much Nigeria is more than overdue for a revolution. We can’t. Our rulers know this things. They know we will never be agreed. They know the “my-criminal-is-better-than-yours-syndrome” will make our revolution dead on arrival. They know that though you and I claim to be detribalized, we are not. An Egyptian-style revolution will boil this nation to a state of divide. Our ethnicity and religion will mar our revolution. You know this. I know this. Our rulers and oppressors know this too. They know we hate ourselves. We pretend to be Yoruba brothers but the average Ibadan man feels more superior to the average Oyo or Ogbomoso man. In some states in the middle belt and the South-south, some tribes hate themselves so much that they don’t even inter-marry. We and our oppressors know all this. Even the ones who call for a revolution. The same ones who appropriated N1 billion for the president’s feeding and collect fat salaries and allowances. They know.

What we need is a peaceful and gradual change. We must be mindful of our unity. And the anarchy that might result from a revolution.

For the sake of your country, choose carefully what you want. But if you ask me, I will ask you to join a political party today. Don’t be a yes-boy. Be active.

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Dada Olusegun is a registered member of Congress for Political Change (CPC), he is a writer cum social change advocate. He is a political columnist on #EkekeeeDotCom and contributor on numerous online blogs and newspapers. He is a motivational speaker who is also involved in youth empowerment and enlightenment programs nationwide. He tweets from @Dolusegun.

 

Op-ed pieces and contributions are the opinions of the writers only and do not represent the opinions of Y!/YNaija.

One comment

  1. Nigeria’s problems is in a cyle, “bad people produce bad leaders, bad leaders produce bad prople”. Until a generation of leaders decide to change things, We’ll just be struggling. This, is exactly why we don’t know what we want

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