It’s barely two years since Muhammadu Buhari defeated then incumbent president, Goodluck Jonathan at the polls to emerge Nigeria’s president.

Since that time, as we have struggled through debate, consequence and the natural effects of two strong parties in Nigeria’s politics, a grudging consensus seems to have emerged: Nigeria’s best are not yet running for elected office, and not just at the federal level.

Two years before the next elections, we are taking up the challenge to focus the attention of citizens on what has now become the crucial challenge in the next step of our democratic evolution: having parties present the best possible options for candidacies in the 2019 General Elections.

For Nigeria to consolidate on the gains of a competitive democratic landscape, this is the challenge citizens must confront, and solve. From joining political parties to voting for the candidate of their choice(s) at the primaries, the citizen needs to own this entire process as much as the politicians who have begun to plot and plan.

We are here to ensure that happens. To shine the light relentlessly and brightly on the processes, calculations and imperatives that will lead us to the elections in 2019. Because, as we always say, in this century and in this stage of human evolution, the media can no longer afford to be a bystander.

YNaija 2019 is the successor to the successful YNaija 2015 project that defined the character of youth involvement in those historic polls. That tradition continues.

It’s no coincidence that YNaija 2019 is launching on June 12, a day when Nigeria celebrates not just democracy but the freest and fairest elections the country had held before 2015.

Because democracy is a marathon. And citizens are the centre of the race.

Follow the portal daily on 2019.YNaija.com.

We are excited to begin this journey with you.

Isime Esene

Managing Editor