CAN NIGERIAN YOUTHS BE THE HEROES?

 Yes, they can, argues Kingsley Ogbonda

 In the aftermath of the ENDSARS protests in Nigeria in October 2020, the head of the worldwide Anglican Communion, the Most Reverend Dr Justin Welby, and the Archbishop of Canterbury wrote an article to Nigerians. The article was titled ‘Time for Heroes’. In it, the Archbishop writing as a friend of Nigeria sent out an invitation to all Nigerians, inviting those who have the capacity either as individuals or as groups, to step up and help in healing the festering wound of injustice and anger in the country.

Following on the message of the Archbishop, I humbly wrote an open letter to you, the Nigerian youths. My letter was also published in THISDAY newspapers, in February 2021. It was an open invitation to you, to become the key change agents in Nigeria. Unlike the Archbishop who perhaps, through his personal convictions, but certainly from his vocational training and diplomatic sensibilities, was generous in his expectations of where the heroes might come from, I was not so restrained in pointing to where I thought the Nigerian heroes are to be found – in you.

Your current political activities in the country, has given me the cause for yet another open letter to you, to remind and encourage you to ensure that the hope in you should not be a misplaced one. From your phenomenal voters’ registrations drive, voters’ education campaigns, your unprecedented information sharing activities especially on the social media, and the huge peaceful political rallies you have freely and voluntarily been organising across the major cities in Nigeria, you are demonstrating that you are now willing to become change agents and that you are no longer content with being onlookers in the nation’s affairs. If this new found enthusiasm and energy are maintained, you would be rewriting the country’s political history for good in 2023.

Your surprising political engagement has prompted a number of comments and questions from both political commentators and observers in Nigeria. They ask – what has flipped, to push a notoriously willing election rigging machine who are easily seduced with measly sums of money to become interested in the struggle for political emancipation? I cannot provide the entire answer to that particular question. But, I feel that most of you have gone through a personal, even a collective conversion course on the benefits of living in an ordered society. The 23 years of civil rule characterised by unrestrained plundering of public money, which has inflicted unimaginable hardship on ordinary Nigerians, is bound to elicit a reaction.

The doubt being expressed about your goings-on is whether you would be able to translate your impressive streets rallies and social media activities into actual votes on the Election Day for your respectively obvious candidate and party, Mr Peter Obi and the Nigerian Labour Party. There is no way of knowing the answer to that question until after the elections. But, on the basis of the current evidence of your involvement and the soundings of most political observers in Nigeria, Mr Obi’s candidacy is the one that is gripping not just your (the youths’) imagination, but that of Nigerians in general.

The other questions being asked that some believe might make your dreams unrealistic are on: Lack of structure – some political commentators echoing the forces of resistance question how your chosen candidate can possibly succeed without structure. I can help in answering that question by inviting people to study the organic nature of your ENDSARS protests. The framing of your message, the civility of it, and its sustenance were exemplary. There were things to be admired in your planning and execution of those protests. With digital technology you are proving a match for your counterparts across the world in political organisation and mobilisation. Sadly, what most of the commentators fail to say is that the referred political structure is a euphemism for election rigging and in truth, a labyrinth for funnelling stolen money to oil elections rigging machines which enables the maintenance of a disastrous grip on power. Take away the PDP and APC’s access and ability to circulate stolen money, and watch how quickly their so-called structures will collapse. Perhaps, in turn, you may ask those who think that your lack of “structures” will inhibit your preferred candidate’s progress in the elections –  what positive and credible messages does the PDP and APC hold that really resonates with Nigerians? Can there really be structures, if they are not actually sustained with resonating messages? You should continually retort that the people are the structure. If you are prepared to pound the streets and get the votes out you would have proven that indeed you are the structure. Yes, you can be the structure.

Lack of money – the popular wisdom is that your candidate, Mr Obi, lacks the fund to run for the presidential election. The question asked is, with Nigerian elections being notoriously money-driven, how is he going to navigate that hurdle? It is true that elections require the spending of money on the essentials and related activities which aid the conducting of fair and transparent elections campaigns. But, where are the election monies mostly spent on in Nigeria? They are spent in paying for cajoling people to attend campaign rallies, buying the electorate, on election monitoring officials to inflate the figures, on security officers to guard and supervise ballot box snatching, on senior election managers to authenticate false results and on the judges in the courts to pronounce pervert judgements. A large proportion of the public resources stolen in Nigeria are for election purposes, with those who have stolen the highest amounts becoming the king makers. Currently, all are watching this play out as some of the state governors who have blatantly snatched their states’ treasuries for their sole political ambition are now the alpha and omega of Nigerian politics, for the things that rogues spend monies on, you are already freely providing for your candidates. For instance, you are freely organising rallies to drum support for Mr Obi, sensitising the public on the value of voting without financial inducement. In the process you have been reminding Nigerians that vote-selling and buying has stymied the country’s political development.

Mr Obi and you deserve applause for saying that he wouldn’t give shi-shi and for you, to be willing to work without receiving shi-shi. If Mr Obi gets elected, he would have changed the nature of Nigerian politics and you would have greatly contributed in giving politics its proper definition in Nigeria. The notion in Nigeria that everything done in the name of politics is politics is baloney. Politics is etched on key fundamentals. These include: providing service for the people, holding enduring principles and values that contribute to the overall wellbeing and happiness of all in the society. For if it were not so, then democratic societies would be governed by gangsters, thieves, hooligans and downright fraudsters. Your honest earned shi-shi is all that Mr Obi needs. And, yes, with your shi-shi he can win. Ask former US President, Mr Barack Obama – the cents he received from the army of American youths helped to send him to the White House. Yes – if American youths can, with Mr Obi, you can too.

If this is a fad – you are labelled as being ephemeral in your beliefs, a group that is unreliable in sustaining long term any progressive activity they embark on. In defence, you should remind people again to study your ENDSARS protests and the organic nature of your support for Mr Obi. It has been solid four months since you have been organising for Mr Obi, without let. Unless you are about to commit the greatest political fraud visited on Nigerians, it is difficult imagining that you leave Mr Obi politically dry in 2023. Be cautioned though, you have now put your reputation on the line, therefore, you must avoid confirming your stereotype. I do not claim to have huge knowledge of political movements, but the very few that I know suggests that whenever the youths decide to change a political order, they usually succeed. In 1990, Apartheid South Africa crumbled due to the youths’ protests. Mr Obama went to the White House on the strength of the youth votes. Before they were betrayed, the youths were responsible in sacking the old oppressive regimes in most of the Arab world in the spring of 2010. In France, President Emmanuel Macron rose to power on back of La Republique Em Marche, a largely youth-led movement. For the imperative of the youths’ involvement in political emancipation, I leave you with Franz Fanon’s known quote, that “each generation must out of relative obscurity, discover its mission, fulfil it, or betray it”. It seems that you have now discovered your mission which is to reclaim Nigeria, please fulfil and don’t betray it.

If they can protect their votes – this is a very important question. One that you must answer. You can answer that question by ensuring that you have appreciable numbers covering all the polling stations. It is a known fact that the polling stations are where all manners of unsavoury activities are initiated. They are the venues where votes are bought and sold, with the security and election monitoring agents turning a blind eye. Your presence and visibility in all the polling stations, and your ability to capture illegal activities on your phones and cameras would forestall funny games. If needs be, that evidence would be required to prove your challenged election results cases in courts. A necessary warning for planned election riggers – Nigerians, especially the youths, are creating the distinct impression that they are tired of bad governance and desperate for a change. Therefore, it is highly likely that election results that are not freely and fairly secured would be strongly resisted.

The INEC factor – apart from the suspicions that INEC electronic systems might be susceptible to sabotage by hired hackers, the Nigerian electoral umpire has reputational challenge. They have a history of being disorganised, having inadequate voting materials, arriving late at polling stations and closing the voting exercise early. The hope is that INEC would realise that the coming elections are going to be unlike any it has supervised since 1999.  For those reasons, it is incumbent on all well-meaning Nigerians and friends to support and encourage INEC to rise up to the challenge of delivering very credible and transparent elections.

In summing up, I return to the article by the Archbishop, the Most Reverend Dr Justin Welby to leave you with his quote, ‘’no nation can be built without heroism’’. Please, once more, I invite you to be the heroes of Nigeria.

 Ogbonda writes from London, United Kingdom