2019: Are the youths ready?

Given the huge cost required to run for elections in Nigeria and owing to the fact that the ‘old brigade’ will not just leave the stage, Nigerian youths should gird their loins for the task ahead, in spite of the traction that the #nottooyoungtorun# campaign is gaining by the day, as SAMSON BENJAMIN observes.

In the 90s, military President Ibrahim Babangida had introduced the concept of New breed politicians, people who had not held public office in the past, to contest elections in the third republic.

Babangida, at that time, had banned all past leaders at both state and federal levels, from the politics of that era. New breedism, as a philosophy, sought a clean break with the past and in his reckoning, this will foist a set of patriotic leaders across the country. Significantly, the policy was jettisoned along the way and old politicians were unbanned to contest elections.

However, about 16 years after, the concept is being resurrected but with some modifications. In this dispensation, the youths want the age limit for some political offices lowered to enable them contest elections and to an extent, the #Nottooyoungto run# campaign has paid off.

Since the return of democracy in 1999, the political landscape in Nigeria has been dominated by old politicians, the campaigners have argued. However, there are strong indications that the 2019 general elections may take a different turn, given that youths are getting more interested and involved in the democratic process. Above all, past Nigerian leaders and elder statesmen seem to have keyed into the campaign.

Obj’s and IBB’s call for change of guards
Last week, former President Olusegun Obasanjo had addressed members of the New Nigeria group, a collection of young politicians at his residence in Ota, Ogun State. In his speech, Obasanjo had asked youths to rise up to the challenge of providing the much needed new generation of leadership for Nigeria’s socio-economic and political development.

In addition, the ex president challenged them to take the bull by the horns, if they must effectively confront “power addicts in their resolve to achieve the set goals and objectives of providing an alternative in the political leadership of the country”.

Similarly, ex president Babangida, the architect of New breed politics, had hosted the same group at his residence in Minna, Niger state. He said the old generation has overstayed in the corridor of power and it should pave the way for younger ones to steer the ship of the state. According to him, “the older generation must give way for the new one. We have become analogue but this is a digital age; so the young people should be supported to use their digital knowledge to move the country forward.” By being adventurous and bringing fresh ideas to the table, young people across the world have steered their countries to greater heights, he said.

Babangida recalled that leaders like General Yakubu Gowon, who ruled Nigeria from 1966 to 1975, at the age of 31, were young men who left positive strides behind.

Before now, Babangida had earlier advocated for a generational shift in the nation’s leadership . In a recent letter he wrote to President Muhammadu Buhari, he said: “We need to deliberately provoke systems and models that will put paid to this recycling leadership experimentation to embrace new generational leadership evolution with the essential attributes of responsive, responsible and proactive leadership configuration to confront the several challenges that we presently face.”

El Rufai’s home truth
However, Governor Nasir El-Rufai of Kaduna State has also told youths the home truth, asking them not to expect power to be handed to them on a platter of gold. Specifically, he told them to stop discussing about politics only on the social media, but to also get involved in ‘real life’ politics.

According to him, youths must actively participate in politics if they want to take over political power from the current leadership. More so, since the current crops of Nigerian leaders are not ready to relinquish powers to the youths. The governor also pointed out that “no election can be won on twitter, Facebook or any social media as the elders currently in power will not hand over power to the youths for the sake of it, they have to work for it.”

In addition, El Rufai also echoed the sentiments that drive the generational shift campaign. Specifically, he accused the elites of being responsible for the challenges Nigerians are facing. In addition, the governor said that most of Nigeria’s political elites are ‘self-centered.’ In this regard, he further said that ‘’youths have to be involved in the ongoing political process in order to ultimately take over political power from the current leadership if they are serious about it.’’

Not too young to run bill
Significantly, the #nottooyoungtorun# campaign, led by concerned Nigerian youths, has borne some fruits recently. According to Section 65 (1)(a) and (b) of the 1999 Constitution (as amended), a Nigerian citizen who intends to run for the office of the president must be at least 40-years-old; Senate, 35; while the federal and state houses of assembly from 30.

However, in a bid to change the narrative, the lawmaker representing Oshodi/Isolo Federal Constituency of Lagos state at the House of Representatives, Hon Tony Nwulu sponsored a bill seeking the reduction in age for Nigerians seeking elective positions. The bill, known as “ Not too young to run“ , is seeking to reduce the age into the office of President from 40 to 30 years, office of Governor and senate from 35 to 30 years, and the federal and state houses of assembly from 30 to 25 years.

As things stand, the bill has been passed by the senate and the House of Representatives in July 2017. According to reports, Twenty-four out of the 36 state Houses of Assembly in the country have passed the ‘Not too young to run’ bill. The latest states to pass the bill are Plateau and Anambra states. Specifically, the Ondo State House of Assembly was the first to pass the bill, other states followed closely, including Adamawa, Kwara, Benue, Nasarawa and Borno states. Similarly, Delta, Enugu, Ekiti, Katsina, Yobe and Gombe also endorsed the bill.

Recently, more state assemblies passed the bill, namely Bauchi, Jigawa, Ebonyi, Kebbi and Akwa Ibom. Others are, Kaduna, Niger, Kogi, Ogun and Abia. However, while Taraba stateHhouse of Assembly voted against the bill, it is currently pending at eleven state assemblies, including Lagos, Oyo, Sokoto, Zamfara, Kano and Edo, Bayelsa, Osun, Cross River, Imo and Rivers.

Financial handicap
Significantly, the influence of money in Nigerian politics is a great cause of concern for every Nigerian youth nursing political ambition. Even in these harsh economic times, a huge amount of money is usually spent on campaigns and elections. Speaking to Blueprint Weekend last Thursday, a Kaduna-based politician, Alhaji Sani Umar , said that ‘’an aspirant needs nothing less than N1 billion to win the gubernatorial primaries of any of the major parties in a state like Kaduna.

A senatorial primary election will cost between N500 to 700 million. House of Reps and state House of Assembly will cost a little less. ’’

According to him, the monetization of politics has ab initio shut out young people from aspiring for political offices. He argued that unless a young politician ‘’has a godfather who will sponsor him, he will not make it.’’ Conversely, Sani pointed out that ‘’godfatherism’’ leads the office holder to dance to the tune of his sponsor and ‘’this negates the spirit of generational shift’’.

No level playing field
Significantly, the Executive Secretary of Citizen Awareness Group, Mr Auwalu Sajo said that extant laws do not shield aspiring young politicians from the negative effects of money in politics. According to him, “it is fact that the Nigerian Electoral Act has placed a maximum limit on campaign spending by candidates running for elective positions.

However, no Nigerian politician has ever been sanctioned for such infractions; even though we know most aspirants running for political offices spend sums of money during party primaries and election campaigns, which often exceeds those limits by huge margins”.

Specifically, section 91 of the Electoral Act 2010 (as amended) provides that a presidential candidate can spend a maximum amount of N1 billion. In addition, the law says that a governorship candidate can only spend a maximum amount of N200 million. On the other hand, a senatorial candidate can spend a maximum amount of N40 million . Similarly, the maximum amount that a House of Representative candidate can spend is N20 million. For State Assembly election, a candidate can only spend a maximum of N10 million in a campaign. Chairmanship election should not cost the candidate more than N10 million. Lastly, councillorship candidate can only spend a maximum one million naira.

Law observed in the breach
Speaking to our correspondent, Dr Loveth Ikwuji, of the department of political science, University of Nigeria, Nsukka, says that “looking retrospectively at the 2105 general elections, if INEC had truly monitored the campaign spending of both President Goodluck Jonathan and the then General Muhammadu Buhari (Rtd.), I believe both candidates would have been sanctioned for spending funds beyond the stipulated maximum limits. If we are to take into account the cost of ‘settling’ delegates at party primaries; running campaign jingles on television and radio stations; chattering of flights for campaigns across the nation and mobilisation of local supporters to such venues; cost of live Television broadcast of campaigns; production of billboards; allowances of party agents at polling stations etc., we will all come to an agreement that both the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) and the All Progressives Congress (APC)’s presidential campaign teams spent sums of money above the one billion naira maximum limit during the 2015 campaign season”.

According to unverified statistics by the Centre for Social Justice, the media expenditures for the last presidential election for the PDP was N 8, 789 ,685 ,298 ( eighth billion, seven hundred and eighty nine thousand, six hundred and eighty five naira, two hundred and ninety eight kobo). While that of the APC was N 2, 915 ,846 ,737 ( two billion, nine hundred and fiveteen million, eight hundred and forty six thousand, seven hundred and thirty seven kobo ( for the APC ).

Leadership capacity
Significantly, little attention is being paid to the readiness of Nigerian youths in terms of capacity lead the nation. According Abayomi Rotimi, the National Coordinator of the National Intervention Movement (NIM), “youths preparing for positions of leadership in governance must start on time, get the required experience, knowledge / competence in order to be successful “. He continued that “ If the Nigerian youths do not gather the necessary requirement then , I fear passage of the “Not too young to run” bill will be a waste of time and the corrupt politicians in government will have an excuse to rule for many more years and place their children to take up from where they stopped “.

“The youths must begin by organising at the ward and state levels. They must understand that anyone serving the country in any political position means serving the people that voted him / her into government. Anyone going into power for the sole purpose of making money should have a serious rethink . Unfortunately, this is the difference between our nation and other countries with prosperous democracy where the rule of law prevails . This is the direction our youths should be aspiring for to effect change”, he clarified.

Executive Director, Centre for Global Solutions and Sustainable Development (CENGSSUD) Adebowale Adeniyi, however said that the youths sre ready to take the mantle of leadership, given their giant strides in the entertainment industry . According to him, “ today’s realities have shown that youths are ever ready and fit to become leaders in the political space. The youths of today have transformed the entertainment industry and have made Nigeria to be rated globally; names like WizKid, Davido, Olamide, Yemi Alade, Kris Daniel, Dbanj, Psquare, Tuface, Iyanya etc have made us proud globally, and apart from the entertainment, youths have taken giant strides in the business sector, technology, agriculture, sports, education etc.”.

As we approach 2019 general elections, the youths will continue to advocate for inclusion in the political space. But whether our choice of leaders will be limited to “ old” versus “young” or their strength of character, vision, courage, capacity, intellect and a deep understanding of Nigeria is not yet clear.

Leave a Reply