2015; NIGERIA’S DEMOCRACY & THE YOUTHS’ ROLE

BY :OLA OLAOYE (PRINCELAOYE)

This article was first published Pre General Election and  since today is Democracy day, we need to re post it for the seek of those that didn't see the initial post. Enjoy!!!!!!!

The year 2015 will unarguably go down in history as one of the most memorable years to Nigeria as a nation, more so as one in participatory democracy. Only a few will deny the fact that since 1960, we have never had a very keenly contested presidential election which could lead to the 1^st ever incumbent loss and probably eventual transfer of power as it is now. Nigerians now have a date with history, come March 28^th 2015. This was after the country’s National Electoral body; INEC postponed the 2015 general elections of Feb 14^th & 28^th to March 28^th & April 11^th.

However, Nigeria as a country has had three botched republics until 1999 which had since allowed 16 years of uninterrupted democracy. Three major political parties namely The People’s Democratic Party (PDP), All People’s Party (APP) and Alliance for Democracy (AD) were founded in 1998. Only the PDP had survived, with the two others having transferred from one to other albeit with some remnants left. The PDP won the presidential election in 1999 and had since then remains at the centre, whilst parties like AD metamorphosed to ACD, AC, ACN and presently APC.  The APP also changed to ANPP and now APC, having successfully merged with ACN, young Congress for Progressive Change (CPC), part of All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) & PDP. It is apt to note that Nigeria is presently running a multi-party democracy with 26 registered political parties. To be candid, democracy has really come of age in Nigeria, with two very strong political parties (the ruling PDP & Opposition APC which successfully evolved in 2013. However, with a 65% youth population, one could not talk of Nigeria’s democracy without discussing the role of her youths in such a participatory democracy. The popular & simple definition of democracy which states that it’s the government of the people by the people and for the people i.e. Citizens engagement & participation makes it so important that the Nigerian youths must not only be engaged, but be ready to take over the mantle of leadership.

Political leadership & challenge of self discovery & personal leadership among the youths:

Any attempt to ask a typical Nigerian youth about his opinion on democracy, government & leadership will shock any reasonable person. I was a co-convener of a socio-political group called “THE CHANGE GROUP; TCG) (NB: not the present CHANGE! SLOGAN), also as a youth leader from my high school days, I’ve seen lot of indolence, indifference & siddon look attitude among the youths of Nigeria. Most do not care about who governs them, talk less of spearheading a force to govern and cause a positive change themselves. Worse still they are so satisfied with a total renaissance; it however becomes a behemoth challenge when it has to do with “ethnicity” & “religion”. I’ll not dwell too much on these two bedeviling our nation Nigeria. Our nation is famed the most religious people on the planet earth with very large congregations competing with the papal Rome & Islamic city of Makah. The Nigerian ruling cabal has over the years successfully taught, disorientated & divided the country through the use of ethnicity & religion, the youths are not immune from this, and they’ve consistently tried to overdo their forebears.  This has further done huge damage to the psyche of an average Nigerian youth. They’ve become victims of propaganda, product of hate speeches & preaching, arrogance cum ignorance. It’s thus not surprising that most Nigerian youths will still vote along ethnic & religious lines.

Special tributes to the distinguished youths who have refused to be a disgrace to their education just as the popular sayings; “no one is born to hate, people were taught to hate” “lets start teaching & learning how to love”.

As the 2015 general elections draw nearer, let the youth decide their future and see a ONE NIGERIA. The presidential elections will be the most decisive ever in the history of our country. The ruling party will fight hard with her incumbent presidential candidate in the person of President Goodluck Jonathan(GCFR), the wave of change & anti-corruption slogan couple with the vow to fight insecurity, the APC presidential candidate Muhammadu Buhari(GCFR) with overwhelming support from the most populated parts of the country will surprisingly make the election too close to call.

The Nigerian youth must however choose our next leaders based on track records, competence, transparency & accountability. Our choice should be devoid of ethno-religious bigotry & hatred, baseless arguments & sheer gratification. Let’s demand for our rights to quality education, food security & sheer gratification.

This is the time for all youths to embrace Democracy & be in charge. ARISE OUR YOUTHS: EMBRACE DEMOCRACY & PLAY YOUR ROLE!

OLA OLAOYE (PRINCELAOYE) is a writer, speaker, poet & infopreneur. A Co-Convener of THE CHANGE GROUP (TCG) in 2011, political analyst, public commentator & Duties Advocate.

Follow @princelaoye on twitter