You Are Nigeria’s next President By Olagunju Isaac

There is a reason I stopped commenting on Nigeriana, I have a very big problem trying to explain every now and then to the Nigerian youth that Saraki is Tinubu, Fayose is El Rufai, Buhari is Jonathan and APC is PDP.

My job is even made more difficult when I have contended with young internet warriors, who are about my age and sometimes even younger than I am, and whose source of livelihood is from the two hundred thousand naira crumb they are paid on a monthly basis to defend those very crooks who ate their future.

These guys are good at their job so please don’t blame me for giving up, if only you have encountered them, then you will understand me better. They are online twenty-four seven and they are always quick to tell you how Buhari is fighting corruption, how the last administration stole Nigeria blind, how all Nigerians would have died of hunger if not for the divine intervention of the new administration and sometimes even remind you that; you should be thankful that God gave us Buhari at this point in time. But if you are dealing with the opposition internet warrior, he will not fail to remind you of GEJ’s success, how he made Nigeria the largest economy in Nigeria, how the TSA and other policies are GEJ’s economy teaFacebookal ideas, how he’s Nigeria fifth republic best democrat, with his decision to concede defeat and also warn his supporters and loyalist that his presidential ambition is not worth the life of any Nigerian.

A bunch of these guys are in their late twenties, early thirties, late thirties and some very few in their early forties and it has never occurred to them that they have all it takes to be the next commissioner, governor of their states, senator, ministers, and even Nigeria’s next president. It has never occurred to them that the same team have been in power from 1999 till date, they do not even understand that they are the ones that always decides who gets elected as the next whatever in this country, they are blind to the fact that there’s strength in their numbers if only they can come together, unite and take their country back.

The average Nigerian youth needs a brain reset, whatever happened to critical thinking. They need their minds to be restored to factory settings. The Nigerian youth needs mental detoxification. Some youth even fight over politicians, looters, and their oppressors when they should rather fight against them. While others are carrying the destiny of their nations, you are carrying the bags of politicians.

Some of them are merely contented with knowing someone in the presidency.

You should be ashamed of yourself, do you not know that the greatness of a nation lies in unleashing the potential of its youths. Rather than defend APC or PDP, can you not think of how to dethrone them. For those of you that have been complaining about the recycling of past leaders. You complain that young people are never given a chance. Do you not know that power is grabbed. Power is not earned. It is not a right neither is it a privilege. It is not served on a silver or gold platter. You must struggle for it. Drop that entitlement mentality. You need to pay the price for power to get it. It involves sacrifice and a lot of hard work. Mr young man, Miss young woman, it is time to force your way to relevance. It is time to take responsibility for the future because the future will not be inherited it will be earned”.

Instead of fighting each other online, why don’t you channel all of your energy and strength on the fire of revolution that is to spread across Nigeria? They have succeeded in dividing you along ethnic and religious lines, they are better united than you are, but now you must do the unbelievable, you must proof your critics wrong, now is the time all youths must unite, we need a critical mass.

We must stop complaining and do something. We need to do something about electricity. Our brains are still fresh. Now is the time to ask questions, go further by seeking answers. Rather, be the answer. As you talk about the challenges, go further by seeking solutions. Rather, be the solution. Does it not bother you that once you’re above 40 years, you have lesser years to spend as you arrive at the departure lounge of life? Should you not be thinking about the future more than the present? For instance, by 2050 Nigeria will hit the 1b population mark. Thirty-three years before 2050, we are still stuck in subsistence farming. We can’t feed 170m people now so how can we feed 1b people? We can’t provide housing for 170m people now, so how can we provide housing for 1b people?

As young people, the survival of Nigeria lies not on the shoulders of APC or PDP but in our hand. Rather than agonize, we must begin to strategize. We must not just think outside the box but throw away the box. We have the numbers, it’s time we use them to force a real change. What does it take to win an election: numbers! We can register a new political party. Or form a critical mass or pressure groups in an existing one. Set up accountability groups across local governments and states. Participate actively in the political process. Identify some young outliers and rally round them so as to get them to political office”. There’s so much we can do with our numbers.

This statistics will make you marvel:
APC won Nassarawa with 392,000 votes- Nassarawa has a population of about 2m people
APC won Lagos State with 811,944 votes- Lagos has a population of close to 20m people.
APC – 327,310- Oyo State- Oyo has a population of about 6m people.
PDP – 289,867 – Ebonyi State- Ebonyi has a population of about 2.1m people
Now let us zero in on Lagos state alone, and let me consider the tertiary institutions alone outside of the clusters where one usually find the youth:
UNILAG has 49,192 students.
LASU has 90,000 students.
Yabatech has 15,000 students.

Lagos State Polytechnic is also an existing school but the number of students cannot be ascertained. Ditto for Lagos City Polytechnic, Adeniran Ogunsanya College of Education, Nigerian Institute of Journalism and Federal College of Education Technical, Akoka.

Now just imagine the kind of impact we will make if these numbers can be mobilized and come together as a critical mass, then we will be on the road to change. What is needed to win an election is numbers and money is a subset of number. As at today in Nigeria, no Nigerian political party has students wings- even when they claim to have youth leaders who are in their 50s and 60s. ANC was very successful because it had students/youth wings. Nelson Mandela, Thabo Mbeki and Julius Malema were former leaders of the ANC Youth League. Greatest Nigeria students, angered Nigeria youths, hapless Nigeria graduates, I challenge you to look at people who were turning 18 and coming of voting age. ‘Who is talking to them?’
Get angry for the right reason’s, I am not your enemy, neither are you mine. Together we must destroy our common enemy. Which is why I am pleading with you to join this association, the Association of Nigerian Graduate Against Unemployment. (Search for “ASSOCIATION OF NIGERIAN GRADUATES AGAINST UNEMPLOYMENT” on Facebook and like the page). We have been consulting with other groups across Nigeria and together we shall all change the World order. We need your fresh brain as much as you need us.

Just like the Facebook page and please invite others to do same.

Stop merely existing. It’s time to start living. Let your life be a contribution to humanity and not a contamination to humanity”.
Together We Can!