THE NIGERIAN YOUTH AND THE QUEST FOR POLITICAL LIBERATION

The Nigerian pathetic situation and her journey to freedom reminds me of Mandela's Long Walk to Freedom. It is indeed a predicament and a dicey situation. The glamour for attitudinal change towards public office remains a complex situation.  While the present species of political gladiators seems to be adamant to relinquish power to the younger generation, there is a quest to capture the seat of power by the young and aspiring vibrant youths come 2023. The young ones are already gathering momentum by engaging in series of leadership programmes at various levels. 

This is indeed a commendable step towards achieving greatness and contributing to grassroot and National development. The question at this juncture is how feasible is it for young lads to mount the seat of power at various levels of Government without the assistant of political Godfather's? How financially capable and prepared are the young and energetic youths to  wrestle power from the present crop of political leaders? Will the youths come together in solidarity to chart a unified struggle towards 2023?  Would the political institutions of Government create an enabling milieu for free, fair and credible elections come 2023? 

The aforementioned and many other questions create a political uncertainty in the quest to obtain power from the  class of political bourgeois who have manipulated the ranks and files thus resulting in the proliferation of social vices such as kidnapping, prostitution, internet fraud, youth restiveness etcetera.

Freedom is never cheap but political freedom is more difficult to get. These were the words of Nelson Mandela in his book entitled "Long Walk to Freedom". It is truism that the political class wouldn't want to relinquish power to the younger generation owing to the benefits that comes with their offices as public officeholders thus, it would require a fierce political battle on the part of the Nigerian youths to cease power from these class of knowledge bereaved entities masquerading themselves as politicians.

Politics in Nigeria is expensive and a good number of our youths are unemployed, poor or lack the psyche of political activism.  These are therefore bottlenecks that would jeopardize the ascension to power by the youthful assembly. On the part of financial capacity, the youths do not have what it takes to financially match the the older politicians who are willing to buy their way into public office by all cost. 

During elections, our youths are used as thugs for stealing of ballot boxes and thumbprinting for this same old politicians who have put them in a state of perpetual dependency. Votes are sold at polling units and all sorts of electoral malpractices exhibited. The reason for this is not farfetched. It is as a result of "unresolved economic" issues. People are hungry, jobless, homeless and Frustrated by the system thus available to be used for all sorts of electoral malpractices as long as they get paid even if it jeopardizes their future and that of their unborn children.

These practices have become the bane of our democratic process and is responsible for the crisis of underdevelopment bedeviling our State. Unless the "Economic Issues" are resolved, Nigerian quest for equalitarianism and a prosperous society would continue to be a mirage, dream or mere rhetorics in the mouths of the youths.