By Nnamdi Ukasanya
I have always had solace in the fact that, in whatsoever one does, what matters is the result. And I think the result so far, has not been favorable to us.
For a start:
I’m not ignorant of the fact that, many, may have been pondering about the reason for my recent change in political ideology -and I want to make it abundantly clear that it has really changed for good.
It’s pertinent to also note that I remain unshakable in my stance and total conviction that any idea to boycott election in any part of Nigeria is not only an act of cowardice but gross insensitivity with regards to the brand of politics played in the Country, but that’s a story for another day.
After reading about Julius Sello Malema of South Africa, I’m compelled to conclude that we the youths are being insulted and denigrated for the deliberate refusal to optimally utilize our potentials in unlocking the dead bars that impede every chances of taking over our rightful position in Nigeria.
Questions are:
– if Julius Sello Malema was born in 1981, and is a Member of Parliament and the Leader of the Economic Freedom Fighters -a far-left and racial nationalist South African political party, which he founded in July 2013 – why are Nigerian youths so wired differently and cannot steer up a political hurricane that would retire the aged or precipitate them as the lubricant of the revolution as to afford our people a leadership that would be 21st century compliant in the stead of a senseless and none advantageous clamour for election boycott.
Why can’t we take the bull by the horn -start now – remain consistent -and be more strategic as to avoid those factors that have continued to undermine our capacity and strength to either take over or negotiate the youths to power like it’s happening in other climes?
The above and many more, inculcates and propels me to want to act on what I believe in: we must not always follow the bandwagon. We must stop doing the same thing and expecting a different result. Yours sincerely wants to stop playing politics of mere noisemaking. I want to stop playing politics without purpose or direction. I am also glad that some of the friends that either refused to speak up to avoid being attacked by some fanatics or disparaged and chastised us for our earlier position on the need to ignore the call for election boycott , and get our PVCs, are gradually coming to terms with reality even though time is no longer on our side.
Those who still chose to take a bliss in deceiving themselves by targeting aimlessly should continue without acknowledging the reality of zoning in Nigeria and the need to maximize the availed opportunity by rejecting failure and voting in the right persons.
My Dictionary tells me about “purpose” as “the reason for which something is done, created; or for which something exist -and that purpose, I suppose, is clearly based on achievables and not that of tall, lofty or mighty dreams that would remain unachievable till the ends of time.
The same Dictionary also defines ” Direction ” as “a course along which someone or something moves”. That is to say, you’re either progressing to the right or the wrong direction.
I continue to ask:
– what has been our purpose and direction so far and what are the results?
-What have we achieved with our continuous aimless online and offline agitation? -if the purpose is to vote out the incumbent administration because of incompetency, looting, daylight robbery and failure in governance, what is our direction in terms of who succeeds them?
I have overtly maintained that our problems as a nation needs nothing but political solutions – having weighed various options – and discovered that, the solution is only achievable with the right persons at the helm.
There is no gain saying that, I and so many like minds have ignorantly been agitating without purpose; we have wept and wailed and moaned and gnashed our teeth to establish our outright rejection for a Buhari and his Party that, promised to save but ended up in self destruct; a party that promised bounty but ended up establishing great famine; a party that promised a better Nigeria but ended up delivering the worst situation in terms of economy, infrastructure and security.
The purposelessness and direction-lessness of our online professional noisemaking have become the bane of a genuine change in Nigeria as we have been turned to mere laughing stock by a few misguided Sai Babarians, who not only believe that their Alah, Buhari, is the best and only qualified product from the North, but have severally questioned our motive for agitation – citing lack of credible and qualified candidates from the North to displace the Ill prepared and unteachable incumbent.
In saner climes, and judging from the horrific experiences of the past three years of APC leadership in Nigeria, it wouldn’t have been only preposterous but an outright aberration cum abomination for people to brazenly acknowledge Buhari as a qualified candidate for 2019 election, not to talk of representing the best of the Northern extraction. But ours remains a system where everything goes because of lack of focus and a system that is deliberately structured to resist anything good for the general well being of the masses.
Sadly, each time I reflect on Nigeria’s decline on every economic Indies and gross underdevelopment as occasioned by the crass ineptitude and lack of forsight of the Buhari led- administration and juxtaposed with the fact that 2019 presidency had been zoned to the North, I’m forced to shudder, not that we lack people of character and integrity, but because we are still projecting those that have failed us and have shown that failure is hereditary. We are still supporting and projecting those that have been part of our problems that also knew they have nothing to offer than their ego and unquenchable arrogance and sense of entitlement of “I must be a president”.
Like the saying goes: ” when there is a will, there must be a way”. Let there be a paradigm shift if the aims and aspirations of well meaning Nigerians, especially that of the younger generation can be achieved.
It’s therefore, high time we collectively established a new paradigm: enough of the politics of the cabal and for the cabal. Enough of the beating about the bush. We need a purpose-driven leadership, which should be a direct departure from what is in place today.
For instance, if people are called Leaders for a purpose, and there is a reason that leaders and not followers make policies and laws -and implement them, it becomes imperative to note that the biggest fraud ever perpetrated against Nigerians is the penchant for blaming others in the present cabinet, with the exception of the real culprit -Buhari, and I wonder how long we are to continue with a character that is either “not aware” or “misled”.
It’s on this note that I would love to introduce this young and vibrant leader of greate repute in the person of Dr.Datti Baba-Ahmed. Ever since I heard the name, I have not only goggled but had been angling to know the real him, and the reason he’s been silence with the kind of quality achievements and unequalled qualifications ascribed to his person.
It suffices to say that, coming across the name – Dr. Datti Baba-Ahmed – has given a little hope to some of us, in that, we have realized that, the North has no business projecting a personality like Buhari, since they are not lacking of men with the charisma or the pedigree, or the educational background or the intellect and capacity to lead.
If at age 48: Dr. Datti Baba-Ahmed, could be the pro- Chancellor of a grade-A Private University. If he can be a former member of House of Representatives, as well as a former distinguished Senator of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, and can also defect from APC to PDP when the Almighty APC is the Party in power, coupled with his learning and profession as a consummate economist, it then beats one’s imagination why nobody talks about him, and why he is not heard.
Dr. Datti Baba-Ahmed as a young and vibrant Nigerian, as an entrepreneur, as an educationists and a consummate politician, remains the kind of persons Nigerian youths, should offer a platform to declare his vision and mission as regards the office of the President of the federal Republic of Nigeria in this 21st century and not the other way round.
For me, it’s better late than never, and I must urge our youths to refrain from shooting without target as the need to “make the hay while the sun shines”,