by Chinyere Akataobi 

 

During the last Local Government Elections in Abia, I and my cousin were chased with sticks and Machetes by some youthful supporters of an opposing party.

Oo ji result sheet!!! Oo ji result sheet!!! was all I could hear as I and my cousin ran fast fearing for our lives.

As I ran, my thoughts went home fearing for what would become of my dear mother if the worst happened.

While running I glanced back trying to see the faces of the young men wielding those dangerous weapons and in those faces, I saw people I could call friends, some were brothers, the rest were comrades in the struggle for a better Abia. I escaped from that ordeal unhurt after I had thrown away the employment forms I had collected that morning.

Looking back now that action probably saved me, they had mistaken the forms for ABSIEC result sheets.

From time to time, I shiver at the thought of what may have happened and the memory is a sobering one.

The memory is a sad reminder of how wide those in power have divided and conquered us to their own selfish gains.

During elections it is the youth who shoot at each other, it is the youths who kill the youth corpers who serve as electoral officers, it is the youth that insult each other on the social media while the old-guard embrace each other and take care of themselves.

After doing damage to ourselves we are still told to “se akpa”{go through period of political bag carrying or mentorship}, sometimes when we are done with mentorship we are still told that the position or office neediri dimkpa {supposed matured person}, by the time they deem us fit, the system has already corrupted and changed us.

Our exclusion from positions that ultimately decide our fate is no longer fair and to be objective the current arrangement has not done much good, earlier progression has given way to sustained retrogression.

We are not saying those before us should retire, the importance of experience can never be downplayed, all we are asking for is the highest level of inclusion.

We are saying that it is a tragedy that Chime Asonye despite his years of experience in the presidency and working with Abia state government wouldn’t be able eligible to run for the Senate till 2023, it is a tragedy that a youth as passionate as Onyinyechi Ojiaku wouldn’t be eligible to go to the National Assembly to speak for her people anytime soon.

Nigerian youths are ready to midwife the rebirth of our dying nation, we are more than praise-singers, more than social media attack dogs and brutish hired thugs.

We have realised the strength in our numbers and in our numbers lie the exceptional abilities to drive the true change we seek.

We are now less loyal to the patterns and systems that have kept us down and the Not Too Young To Run bill would provide the opportunities for our nation to see the best of fathers and mothers sit side by side with the best of their sons and daughters to bring the dreams of the founders this great nation to reality.

#NotTooYoungToRun #NTYTR_ABIA

---

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

The author tweets @Prolific_jackk