Politics
DESPITE the outcome of the 2023 presidential and general polls, Nigerian youths have further demonstrated their resolve to rescue the nation and return it to the path of growth. The youths are therefore very much awake and not asleep at the wheel until this noble goal is achieved.
By Goddy Ikeh
ALTHOUGH, it may too early to conclude that more than 30 million Nigerian voters, many of them young people, could not realize their goal of voting out most of the old, corrupt and indifferent politicians in the just concluded flawed presidential and general elections conducted by the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC in February and March this year.
Incidentally, these youths were driven by decades of discontent fueled by poor governance issues, worsening insecurity, rising inflation, high food prices, high unemployment, worrisome debt profile and the need to discard the old tribal and regionally-motivated politics for one based on national issues with nationwide implications. These youths, who had been excluded from the political sphere for decades easily found expression in the programmes of the Labour Party and its presidential candidate, Peter Obi, and embraced the philosophy and programmes, which signal a departure from the old and corrupt ways of handling the governance question in the country where looting and mismanagement of state resources have assumed the stuff of legends.
Although Obi came third in the result announced by INEC with over 6 million, while the winner, Bola Tinubu of the APC had over 8 million votes. But Obi is already contesting the procedure and result announced by INEC.
Despite the outcome of the presidential polls, the Nigerian youths, who are also the drivers of the Obidients movement, have been applauded for the performance of Obi and the Labour Party in the polls, especially for their organizational skills, resourcefulness and sacrifice.
Speaking on the outcome of the election, the Catholic Bishop of Sokoto Diocese, Matthew Hassan Kukah, stated that it has continued to generate tension in the land, saying: “We are all angry and we all want Justice. Yes, we have the right to be angry and we should be angry. He who is not angry when there is a just cause for anger is immoral because anger looks to the good of justice.” In his Easter message, Bishop Kukah said that Nigerians were ready to reclaim their country “as God guides President Muhammadu Buhari in his retirement at the end of his second tenure on May 29, 2023.”
“Nigerians have for too long been beaten by the rain and the sun of injustice. There can be no peace when those who live in glass houses, have mastered the art of throwing stones at those they have kept in the rain and under the scorching sun. Until Lazarus and the rich man can sit around the same table, there can be no just peace or justice (Lk. 16:19-31). Peace is not the absence of war. It is the fruit of justice.”
Addressing the youth of Nigeria, he stated: “I salute your energy and courage. You fought a good fight across party lines. Your engagement and involvement substantially changed the contours of our politics. Things will never be the same again. “However, the youth do not belong to any single party, no matter the temptation. You must look at the mistakes of the past and avoid them. Note that your actions today will shape tomorrow. Learn the rules of good sportsmanship, no rules, know your roles, know when to fight, what to fight for and know when to walk away so you can embrace other fights. In all, most of you did well, but some of your colleagues lost their lives at the hands of members of your groups. Keep the dreams, but know the contours of the long road ahead.”
Bishop Kukah did not stops there, as he had a message for the Supreme Court judges: “We are saddened that your sacred temples have been invaded by the political class leaving the toxic fumes that now threaten your reputation as the last hope for all citizens.
“It is sad that your hard earned reputation is undergoing very severe stress and pressure from those who want justice on their own terms. Nigerians are looking up to you to reclaim their trust in you as the interpreters of the spirit of our laws.
“The future of our country is in your hands. You have only your conscience and your God to answer to when you listen to the claims and counter claims of Nigerian lawyers as you decide the future of our country. We pray that God gives you the wisdom to see what is right and the strength of character and conscience to stand by the truth.”
And to the acclaimed winner of the election, Kukah told the president-elect, Bola Ahmed Tinubu, that the most urgent task facing Nigeria was not infrastructure or the “usual cheap talk about the dividends of democracy, but the most urgent mission of embarking on the psychological journey of making Nigerians feel whole again and cutting off the chains of ethnicity and religious bigotry and placing the nation on the path to our greatness, of exorcising the ghost of nepotism and religious bigotry.”
Commenting on the outcome of the elections, former President Olusegun Obasanjo commended the impact made by the youths on the results of the elections and stated that the new administration should urgently facilitate the process of national moral rearmament and national reconciliation that will assuage the youths of the country.
This, according to him, must be done in sync with the imperative of national value orientation that Nigeria requires to build a collective sense of enduring and local values and national belonging.
He stated that governance in Nigeria now calls for thinking outside the box, in terms of development financing, this has become inevitable in the face of Nigeria’s dwindling fortune, in oil revenue, Nigeria’s huge foreign indebtedness and the urgency of diversifying Nigeria’s neo cultural economy.
“All of these and more are necessary to correct and not to repeat the sickening and painful show of shame that the elections of 2023 generated.”
In his rare comments after the polls, President Muhammadu Buhari, declared that with the outcome of the 2023 national elections, there would be no more easy route to power than through the electorate.
Receiving the outgoing Angolan Ambassador to Nigeria, Eustaquio Januario Quibato, and his United Arab Emirates, UAE, counterpart, Fahad Obaid farewell, Buhari said that the failure of 10 Governors to make it to the Senate meant that the only guaranteed route to power was the electorate, adding that the voter was truly king when it comes to elections.
“It is a testament to the maturity of our democracy and to the amazing sophistication of the voter. What shocked me was that the ordinary citizen, who is usually underrated has made the point of his political understanding of things.
“Assumption is always that you are governor for eight years and you go to the Senate to crown the career. No one should underrate the Nigerian voter anymore. Politics will be more difficult, henceforth.”
In the same vein, some analysts have praised the Obidients for recording unprecedented successes in delivering Lagos, Abuja, Abia state and ensuring that the Labour Party made some significant inroads into many states across the country through the election of LP members in both the Senate, the House of Representatives and State Houses of Assembly without having “political structures”.
But this achievements by the Obidients did not go down well with some leaders of the ruling APC, Nigerian elders and elites, who perhaps, do not want any form of changes from the political decay the nation had been plunged into for decades. For instance, some of them have described Obidients as one of the most repulsive, off-putting concoctions ever encountered in any political arena. In the face of this unceasing pummeling, Obi has reassured the Obidients and other Nigerians, who are going through very traumatizing pains since the general elections that “with hope in the God of justice, better and happier years await all”.
Obi in a series of tweets in reaction to the show of shame that went on in the rerun election in Adamawa state, noted that the intention of all these electoral brigandage is to provoke the people to violence but it’s not the best option for those who believe in the rule of law with faith in God.
“We were provoked during the elections, but we showed restraint, patriotism, and wisdom because we were voting for a greater Nigeria and not for the destruction of Nigeria. They deployed agents who killed and maimed many, including innocent women, but we kept our cool”
While assuring the people that he is on this journey of rescuing Nigeria together with them, Obi noted that the recent events in our country, including political developments in Adamawa state, underline the importance of adhering to the rule of law.
“As a patriotic Nigerian who has served this country diligently, I remain committed to serving the Nigerian people and achieving a greater Nigeria in which everyone will be a beneficiary of our God-given wealth of abundant human and natural resources.
In appreciating the huge potential in the country, the former Anambra State governor and LP standard bearer noted that “Nigeria is a truly blessed and potentially great nation. With the Almighty God on our side, Nigeria’s greatness will soon manifest fully, thus ensuring that she is well-respected globally. In view of this, l ask all well-meaning Nigerians to commit their heart to prayers for a better and greater Nigeria.
And speaking at the National Executive Council Meeting of the Labour Party held in Asaba recently, Obi reiterated his commitment to a “Nigeria that will be beneficial to every Nigerian.”
He maintained that the struggle to reclaim the mandate was not about him as a person, but about millions of Nigerians who reposed their trust on him through their votes.
“The millions of Nigerians who voted for me did not just cast their votes, but they invested their hope in me. They deserve justice. So we must stay the course. And beyond regaining our mandate, I am committed to lifting people out of poverty. I remain committed to transforming Nigeria, starting from the North to every part of the nation,” Obi said.
He revealed that there may be more mudslinging on him from those who are against the emergence of the New Nigeria, but he assured that he would never be deterred by the obstacles along the way to victory. “I have always lived my life in the most law abiding manner possible. Sometimes, as humans, we make mistakes, but I will never knowingly break any law. I am, therefore, not afraid of the lies and propaganda against my person. There are part of the journey to a New Nigeria,” Obi added.
Obviously, the Obidients are fully aware that the journey is long and rough and perhaps, the wise choice is to proceed slowly, but confidently in the struggle to reclaim their country.
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Tags: INEC. Matthew Hassan KUKAH OBIdients Peter Obi
