By Chief Ojukwu
Came back to twitter temporarily, scrolling my TL saw some tweets from youths claiming that this is a generation of app developers, drone flyers etc therefore the youths have earned a right to be at the table (government).
I understand how badly our youths have fallen in love with weed.
By the way, BUSINESSDAY claims Nigeria is the highest user of weed. I bet over 70% are by the youths because it must be a special brand of weed that will make anyone think that because you developed an app/drone, that automatically gives you right to leading a country.
Before you people started doing PayStack, CowryWise, irokoTV etc, US, India, China etc had already blazed a long trail in technology & app development.
But guess what?
NONE OF THE SO CALLED DEVELOPERS OR TECHIES ARE RUNNING THESE COUNTRIES!
Wait a sec!
You think after protesting, setting the country ablaze you will then take over?
You want to replicate, Sudan/Egypt/Tunisia etc here? I got news for you.
Remember Alaa Salah, the Sudanese youth who stood & addressed crowd during Sudan’s protest last year? Well, all she got was to be invited by the United Nations to read whatever she scribbled on a piece of paper.
They clapped for her, promised her donor funds, scholarship and put her back in a plane back to Khartoum!
What happened to Sudan after their protests? A Transitionary Military Council with some politicians took power and handed it to Abdalla Hamdok another politician who has been in the corridors of power for years!
The council/committee that was constituted & took power didn’t have a single youth in it and had just one female (they complained how women are left out and yet they were left out yet again!).
You think you can take power by hashtags, threads/threats on social media/fake news, apps, protests etc? All you do with those things is to destabilize the political space & in the end it still only favours either those already in power, those displaced from power, those at the corridors of power wanting to go in, and a few crafty people they used to cause the unrest who get settled with cash, positions etc.
Kiki Mordi and Aisha Yesufu are just copycats of Alaa Salah;
They will set up CSOs/NGOs, that’s if they don’t already have. Donor funds will trickle in, they will be called on TV & Radio to speak & maybe the UN/their agencies. Amnesty Nigeria will use them to further their agenda but IT ENDS THERE!
They will never be in power same way Yele Sowore, Moghalu Kingsley & Oby Ezekwesili etc will never have power!
It isn’t because the system is rigged against them, it is because they have rigged themselves against the system!
How does one rig him/herself against the system? It’s by mistaking social media validation as real life political currency!
The youths who are demanding power, how many belong to political parties?
How many have visited their villages except for maybe Christmas/Sallah holidays?
How many of you can call, at least, 100 people in your community & they will come answer the call without financial inducement?
We have lots of schools in our respective communities attended by the very poor amongst us, how many have we helped with painting their classrooms, paying fees, donating chairs & tables?
We have run down medical facilities in our villages, how many times have we helped organise free medical outreach for those very poor ones in our hometowns?
You ask the significance? So you do not realise that all politics is local & not social media?
You want to run for president and 90% of the people who know you are your followers on social media & somehow you think you will win the election?
Let’s ask those who have tried; Can Yele Sowore win local government chairman of his ward? But after smoking weed & doing SaharaReporters blog you wake up thinking you can be president over 300 million crazy NIGERIANS? Yes, I am one of the crazies!
Oby Ezekwesili might be the only one with the solution to fix Nigeria but the question is, can she win governorship election in her state?
Even after being a two-time minister, World Bank Executive & every other thing, how many people know her in Kano & Bornu?
You wonder how relevant it is? Then go check the population of those states & tell me how you intend to be president if you can’t court their votes!
So if you think you can become leaders by your activities on social media, apps you develop etc. we know your handles, who knows you in your community?
We have downloaded your app, we know your app but WHO ARE YOU?
If you think you can be President or lead with protests, know that when the dust settles down it is the military & THE SAME POLITICIANS THAT WILL CALL THE SHOTS!
If you do not go back, rethink, re-strategise, get involved in politics, the sun will set on the oldies you hate so much & rise ON THEIR CHILDREN who they have strategically positioned while you remain an online influencer/soro soke/app developer & agent of destruction.
The insults can begin.
