2019 Election and the Massive Choice for the Nigerian Youths

Nigeria is unquestionably a great nation, in the making. Who believes that these days? But with a population of which a massive percentage are youths brimming with zest and vigour, it is quite a shame that this country has been made to remain on the cusp of greatness but in disappointingly mediocre limbo for a considerable number of years now. More so, to say the last three years have been nothing less than overwhelming disappointment and agonizing setback for the Nigerian youths is to underplay the massive hope that the youths were bought with in the run up to the 2015 General Election.

Those giddy times now seem some ages past with how events have turned out since May 2015. Unfortunately and shockingly those who should care about their own failings seem totally indifferent to the feelings of Nigerians who braved the sun, the rain and the huge force of the then incumbency to cause Change to happen! Were the youths duped in 2015? With the ways things have panned out and are panning out, absolutely! What then is to be done by the Nigerian youths?

First, it must not be left out of reckoning the massive influence of the media in selling a hitherto thought of nonmarketable candidate whose limited reach of acceptability had knocked him down three times before. In fact, most Nigerian youths, especially those who were probably not born or were in their infancy during General Muhammadu Buhari’s military leadership of the country had been weaned on the various reasons why the General could not be accepted to shepherd the affairs of the country again.

But the table turned or in actual sense the media helped turn the table in favour of the Army General with the forces of alignments coming from disparate and now sparring political camps that came together in order to oust the then government in power. Wheeled on to the corridors of power by an unbeknownst incredible propagandist force – of which the Nigerian media (both traditional and the new media) is a veritable abettor- it is something of a huge dilemma while the current administration has seemed to want to continue in propagandist posturing while increasingly being unable to live up to its many electoral promises. In fact it seems it is overwhelmed by the sheer figures of what it has promised to do. But that is not the greatest conundrum of the consequence of the 2015 electoral decision, it is this: in spite of the vacuous statistics, Nigerians now hunger more, Nigerians now pay more for goods and services while seeing the value of their pay increasingly decreasing; and more than ever, Nigerians now live in fear of an impending tragedy à la herdmen’s rampaging, Boko Haram’s renewed daring insurgency, and other such massive embarrassment to a sovereign nation. It is therefore not too much of surprise that the youths are not even thought of at all?

While some people have continued to harp on the peculiarity of the 2015 alignments and the necessity for their political successes at the poll because Nigeria and Nigerians needed a change, do we not now desperately need another change in 2019?

Shall we continue in this disastrous sin and expect grace to abound! Shall we not stop testing the capacity of the Nigerian spirit to stoically weather all avoidable tragic happenings that are thrown along its way? Years on years, Nigerian youths have had their productive years wasted by the conscious inefficiency and wicked indifference of those in powers who continue to work with some sinister style guides. But then how can a sham change be changed in 2019? For a fact which youths need not gloss over is that the choices that will be placed before Nigerians come 2019 will most likely be narrowed to two septuagenarians who have been tested but not trusted; for whatever their credentials are, it will take a massive effort and some incredible political machinations to get those relatively younger presidential candidates, who are currently hopping across the country and the internet, into winnable political reckoning. But can the youths help force the imaginable? A fact of this century is that things never thought could happen or could happen so soon have increasingly been happening.

More so, the youths have been the ones in the vanguard of these massive revolutions. Across the length and breadth of the world, political orders are getting reordering through the resolute and committed push of the youths. Thankfully, the increasing globalisation of the world has made it possible for a feat in the remotest region of the world to come to the notice of every global citizen within seconds of a click on the smartphone and the computers. And what revolutions we have seen in the last few years in Europe, Canada and other parts of the world. The Nigerian youths had better take their destinies in their own hands else we would still be left in limbo for another election circle and had some of our agile years wasted once again.

follow Tobi Idowu on Twitter