My Problem with the Youths in Politics

There's nothing wrong with a youth becoming the President of Nigeria,afterall, the current president of France is a youth. In the same vain, there's absolutely nothing wrong with an old man becoming a President. In Malaysia, a youth was voted out to give room for a man in his nineties (92, to be specific) to become the President!

Age is NOT a Barrier In Governance!
We have one of the youngest governors in Kogi's State House. Please, go ask an average Kogite how gladly he would like to vote him back to power next electioneering year in the state to see things for yourself!
My point is that age is no barrier to good performance,neither is it a guarantee of good governance. So, for someone to come out to campaign and the main point he has against his opponent is advancement in age or the weakness that comes with it is quite disappointing and disrespectful to our old folks!
If you've got better offers, you should spend time to communicate them to the people and leave the person of your opponent(s) out of it. Nigeria's got too many problems for room to be made for the attack of personalities during campaigns. Like I said earlier, there's nothing wrong with a youth taking over power and I am in fact in support of it. What I would not have is a RUDE youth taking over the Aso Rock!

The Current Set of Youths Aren't Ready
I'll like to begin with the comments and reactions of the Youthful Presidential Aspirants during the Presidential debate. They showed a very high level of disrespect for those presidential aspirants that were absent. They attacked their persons freely without hindrance. None of them deemed it fit to show constraint and make polite excuses on their behalf (for their absence).
I was expecting comments like 'Well, it's quite unfortunate that they couldn't make it, for reasons best known to them,they couldn't make it, especially, Mr President that I wish to tackle on some of his policies that I see as anti people. It's painful, though, but, nonetheless, the debate must go on and I know, he would get to see the playback of the debate and hopefully respond to whatever issue that's raised.'
That's how people of courtesy do. They don't attack or tongue lash the opponent behind their backs just to score cheap political goals. It was so disrespectful and honestly, in my opinion, disqualifies the aspirants from becoming President. I mean, if they could be that rude as an aspirant, only God knows how far they'll go when they become President.

Sowore Goofed!
The most promising of them all,to me, is Sowore, the owner of Sahara Reporters. But, unfortunately, he turned out to be the most rude of the youth aspirants. He's so direct and throws courtesy to the winds!
The other time, on TVC, he was interviewed along with Moghalu.While Moghalu was trying to be gentlemanly in his approach, trying to prevent direct confrontations, Sowore continued to provoke it (direct confrontations) with every opportunity he had. Well, that's just about the point.
Sowore goofed BIG TIME when he was asked concerning the minimum wage. One of the Anchors asked him how much he would pay as minimum wage? My brother just spit it out without thinking about it. He said that he would pay the sum of a hundred thousand Naira as minimum wage. While I was still trying to handle the shock,he let out the bombshell!
Sowore claimed that the decision was actually a product of careful research on his part. He was so confident and so proud of his submissions that he went ahead to attack Moghalu who said that he would firstly study the situation on ground after his ascension to power before he can decide on that. He accused him of not being sensitive enough to the plight of the Nigerian workers!
Sowore goofed coz, he failed to realize that the only consequence of salary increase is inflation and the devaluation of the Naira. What he failed to realize is that the price of everything shoots up in matter of weeks that the new wage regime begins. Would discuss that in subsequent posts on this blog,please stay tuned.
According to Sowore, Nigeria can pay, but, the question is that how much would you pay Directors and Managers when you pay Gardeners and Gatekeepers N100 000??? When I said that these guys were not ready on facebook, some guys spared no time in attacking me over the matter. But, can we say Sowore who's promising a N100 000 minimum wage ready to take charge of Nigeria???
Hell No!

What I Expected From The Youths
I am in full support of the 'Not Too Young To Rule' mantra. But, we shouldn't be in a rush to take power. I was expecting the youths to test out the waters, learn on the job by starting small and from the grass root. I expected the youths to begin their political career from places like the Councillorship, LG Chairmanship and at most, the Governorship....certainly not the Presidential part. I would have expected the youths to occupy the State Houses of Assembly and the National House of Assembly.
I expected the youths in politics to first of all build their political careers so that they wouldn't be hoping to win Presidential  elections from winning Presidential Debates. The current crop of aspirants had NOTHING, ABSOLUTELY NO POLITICAL CV to proof their worth. They've got nothing other than their sharp mouths, the more reason they were disappointed that Atiku and Buhari wouldn't do debate.
Fellow Nigerians, I've got a lot to share with you concerning the Elections, yet, I don't want to overwhelm you with too much info. I'll stop for now so that you may digest what I've shared so far. I'll see you on Wednesday!
God Bless Nigeria!

2019 a Great Year for Nigerians!

Hmmm...
Fellow Nigerians, it's 2019 and we know that the first thing that pops into our mind is the General elections. I lie?

So, What's the Big Deal About the General Elections???
Well, in my opinion, the Big deal is YOU! Yes, you, you are the reason why the campaign is put in place, you are the reason why there are political rallies, you are the reason why they keep on attacking each other all over the media. You are the one that is causing them sleepless nights, in case you don't know.
For the past three and half years, they have been in Abuja, state capitals or simply busy pursuing their selfish interest thereby abandoning you to yourself and forgetting all the promises they made to you. Now that their calendar has just informed them of an inevitable end to the momentary 'jollyment' it's high time they came back to you and ask you for the permission to continue! The question is, are you going to grant that permission???
That's why you are the BIG DEAL!

Your Votes Truly Count!
Forget all the talk about 'they don't really need your vote to get to power'. It's a very BIG WHITE LIE, YOU VOTES DO COUNT!
What you don't know is that you are the one that sell your votes to them either directly or indirectly. We all know how the trade in votes are done directly, it's the indirect form which is the more devastating of the two that you might ignorant of.
Most people don't understand that the moment they receive gifts in any form during electioneering period, they have sold their votes. I marvel at our ignorance when I hear people who are regarded as learned and should be on the vanguard of the war against money politics take gifts from the political heavy weights and actually promote the unfortunate trend. They'll tell you that it's their money that is being shared, hence, they would take the money but vote their choice candidate in the end.
What you don't know is that the corrupt guy knows this too, but he's not bothered. He's not bothered because, what he had actually purchased from you is your conscience WITH YOUR OWN MONEY (as you like to put it,abeg na who mumu pass now??? lolz!)!
The moment you take the gift from them, you have lost the moral grounds to contest, protest or challenge the results of the elections. Let me break it down for you.
Party A and B are contesting for a political post in your area and party A is the ruling party. Due to this advantage, party A uses public funds to campaign and give gifts to attendees of their campaigns and on the day of elections, they were there dishing out N500 and N1 000 notes to the ignorant majority. They also approach the security agents at the polling booth and offered them like N10 000  or more each based on negotiations. There are brown envelopes in place for the INEC officers too. Abegi,  who do you think would win and if they do, who would challenge the results? The answer is simple and direct, party A would win and the results would be challenged by only party B which is now clearly the minute minority NOBODY else!!!
Nobody would challenge the results because all the stake holders in the election has been bought successfully except party B that's with a much better candidate for the position...this is how we sell our future the corrupt and incompetent. Guess what?
If they were able to buy all other stakeholders except you the electorates, they would still not have their way and would loose big time! Buhari's emergence in 2015 is a not too distant instance...even the emergence of Jonathan in 2011 ( the era of FRESH AIR...I hope you remember?).

Rigging is Successful only When You the Electorates are Part of It
I can still remember an incident in a state where there's a godfather who controls all the LGA's in the said state except one...just one! During an election period, the godfather's party was announced as the winner of all parts of the state. When it came to announcing the results of this particular LGA of the stand alone party, he applied wisdom by telling his disciples that it's better to release the true results in the LGA because, failure to do so would yield nothing but a dangerous rebellion and conflict. Such is the power of the electorates....as in YOU!
So, please, note that if there's rigging in your local polling booth, na you cause am o! Na you sell your votes to corrupt politicians through their agents in your area.The moment you collect money from ANYONE as regards to elections, know that you have sold your conscience and you cannot challenge the election outcome even if you have rock solid evidence of the rigging process. It's that bad!!!

Don't Be Part of the Rot but Part of the Solution
It's quite obvious that the rot in our national lives as Nigerians is so deep that Nigeria is approximately a failed state! But as a patriot, it's my duty to always look onto the bright side...as a patriot, I wouldn't say Nigeria is a failed state but a country that's gradually waking from a very serious coma. It's on this note that I would implore you to help make a change and not join the bandwagon of the overwhelming rot in the system. You can make a difference by sharing this post with your friends on your social media accounts. You can also champion the change cause in your locality by speaking out against money politics in your area.
Know that if you don't do it, no one would. You may not know this, but your community is depending on you to help develop it, development is accelerated to a very high extent when you have the right people in power. You cannot have the right people in power when you allow money politics flourish in your area.
There are other big deals in 2019, it's just that the general elections is the one on point right now! Tomorrow, insha Allah, we shall be looking into the importance and the roles of the youths in ensuring a hitch free election period.
See you then.