Iyinoluwa Aboyeji: First they join the cults, then they join the government (Y! FrontPage)

by Iyinoluwa Aboyeji

Iyinoluwa-Aboyeji

This lack of alternatives has allowed us lose too many conscientious youth to the logic that to change the game, they must play the game. 

First the silence for the past few weeks was unacceptable but I’ll have to engage you in a protracted explanation and apology for that later. I was making the ultimate unexpected move. More about that later.

What I actually want to talk about today are circles of power. One of the trends I found most interesting from what I personally considered the top political news stories of last week was that they emphasized the circles within which the corridors of power rotate and how that changes over time.

Pardon my ignorance but within the last week, I learnt River’s states is run by former cultists and Government is run by old boys from Barewa College and the army is still run by a certain Brigadier General from 14 years ago.

Sure, these are gross over generalizations (which will probably land me in hot water) but regardless they lead me to the larger point I would like to make;

What circles will tomorrow’s leaders come from?

There was a time in the history of this country where if you were a northerner that went to Barewa College, you were a lot more likely to become President than say, a certain school boy with no shoes.  Soon enough, the fastest path to power was to join the army. Even I will shamefully admit than when I was a lot younger, I once fantasized about joining the army so I too could one day also appear on national television to address you as “my fellow Nigerians.

Today, I worry that tomorrow’s leaders are being made in University confraternities and terrorist organizations like Boko Haram and MEND, which take up arms against the state. Feel free to condemn my assertion as unnecessary alarm but everything seems to be pointing to sponsored violence as the fastest and most legitimate route to power in our country.

The formula is simple; take up arms against state structures with the help of powerful politicians, negotiate yourself into the workings of government through “amnesty” and then slowly but violently force your way into the corridors of powers, whilst occasionally remembering to hack down an obstinate obstacle or opponent with a black axe if need be.

Part of the problem is obviously our cultural penchant for rewarding bad behavior in the name of “showing mercy” but I would also argue part of the problem comes from not creating enough spaces where decent leaders with good morals can find a clear, honest but more realistic route to power.

Cultists have already polluted the Student Union Government, the youth wings of political parties are the fountain of youth for sixty year old men and so many faux youth groups founded by men hungry enough to be subverted by Lunch and transport money far from safe spaces for serious minded youth. Besides many of these youth groups don’t scale into serious national movements worthy of any kind of mention or attention.

This lack of alternatives has allowed us lose too many conscientious youth to the logic that to change the game, they must play the game.  And ofcourse the wily gerontocrats ruining our country are too happy to welcome them to the PDP for the window dressing role they are sure to play in “rebranding” the party.

We need to create more opportunities for young people to develop as political and social change agent lest a day come when we can’t find a President without blood on his hands.

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Op-ed pieces and contributions are the opinions of the writers only and do not represent the opinions of Y!/YNaija.

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