Kwara Politics and Youth

By: Akogun Iyiola Oyedepo

I see political power as the most reliable instrument of getting whatever we want in the whole world. But the discussion of political power in this article is intentionally limited in scope. I write of political power acquired through the ballot box, not through the barrel of the gun or some other undemocratic practices. The discourse is about the youth, not the old guard who have been in power a long time, resisting change and reforms. It is also about the youth of Kwara State, but with examples drawn from pre-Independence, the first and second republics post-independence, Nigeria. Further examples and lessons are drawn from some countries of Africa. Though, I write of the youth of Kwara State, this article is applicable to youth in contemporary Nigeria.

There is the need for realistic practical definition of youths in politics in Nigeria and youthful demographic categorization in our books. What constitutes youth might differ from countries to countries. In some countries while youth starts from eighteen, it terminates at the age of thirty. In some countries before the windows of youth is shut, it will either be the age of thirty-five or even forty. But the reality in political participation in Nigeria is that the age of declining agility with delibitating health challenges, cannot be less than forty-five. Therefore, those that claim youthfulness, and that the political leadership of this country be conceded to them, are mostly people from the ages of twenty-five to even fifty. Young persons eager to take over the rein of political power, regard anybody after the age of fifty as old. That is the reality on the ground, and it is on this, that I wish to discuss, the youth in Kwara and politics.

And what is in age? Just a mere statistics, some people would say. The young interpret age in the firmness of human frame, typified by absence of wrinkled face or body, quick steady movements, good strength to jump up and down, clear thinking, understanding current trends, etc. Other people do not see silver hair, falling frames, unsteady movements as hindrance to leadership in politics. President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, when accused of being too old for the Presidency of Nigeria as a result of feasible failing health conditions, said he was not applying for a job of carrying blocks or bags of cement. Dr Nnamdi Azikiwe saw the debate about age in politics as needless. He said, there are “old young men and young old men”. To Azikiwe, the great Zik of Africa, age is a state of the mind. There are some young frames that think like centenarians and there are some old men whose thoughts and ideology mark them out for progressive dispositions, usually associated with youth. Young men that are not daring or cannot take risks, pessimistic youths that see impossibilities in virtually all situations are young old men. While the daring old men always thinking and improving themselves to confront current and future problems of the society; are really old young men.

In the pre-independence Nigeria and immediately after independence, especially in the first and the second republics, youth eligibility for office was not an issue. The common variables determining success in electoral contests then were religion, geo-political considerations, ethnicity, money, etc. Being young or old was not then very important. But it is becoming an issue today in our body politics. Virtually all our pre and post-independence political leaders were young men and women by the definition adopted in this article. In any case, if one had wanted old experienced politicians at the dawn of Nationalist agitations in the 1920s, where would they be found?

The early nationalist agitators were the few educated Nigerians like Herbert Macaulay, Henry Carr, John Payne Jackson, Sir Adeyemo Alakija and Ernest Ikoli. Their agitation was a response to British colonial rule and exclusion of Nigerians from governance. They were all young, but developed the zeal to free their people from foreign domination. But those that later became politicians and occupied political offices were, Dr Nnamidi Azikiwe, one time Premier of the Eastern Region and later the first Governor-General and later the ceremonial President of Nigeria. He became a politician through journalism and political activism at the age of twenty-nine. Chief Obafemi Awolowo, the first Premier of the Western Region and later opposition leader in the first republic Federal Parliament, became a politician at the age of thirty-five. Sir Ahamadu Bello, the Premier of the Northern region, also became a politician at the age of thirty-five. Mallam Aminu Kano, the doyen of Northern resistance againstfeudalist oligarchy, started his political career at the age of twenty-five. The first mover of the motion for the independence of Nigeria in the Federal Parliament in 1956, Chief Anthony Enahoro, started his political career at the age of twenty-one

These people in that era did not need: Not Too Young to Run Act that reduces political contest age to the minimum of twenty-five as we have today in this country. At that time, if people older than the leaders cited above were needed, where could they be found? Even M. T. Mbu, started his political career at the age of twenty-two in 1952. By 1953 at the age of twenty-three, he was a Federal Minister of Labour. He remains the youngest ever Minister of cabinet rank in the history of Nigeria.

But now back home in Kwara State, has our politics been bereft of Youth participations, especially from the first and the second republics? No. To establish this, we need to study the political history of three prominent Kwara Politicians: Chief Josiah Sunday Olawoyin, popularly called JS, Dr Abubarkar Olusola Saraki, Oloyee and Chief CO Adebayo. Chief JS Olawoyin was born on the 5th of February, 1925. In 1953, he was appointed the publicity Secretary of Middle Belt People’s Party and later became the organizing secretary of Action Group (AG). From the foregoing, JS Olawoyin, started his political career at the age of twenty-seven. As to Dr Abubarkar Olusola Saraki, he was born on the 17th of May, 1933 and contested the 1964, parliamentary election for Asa/Afon Constituency. He contested as independent Canadidate. This means his career in politics started effectively in 1964, at the age of thirty-three. Chief CO Adebayo was elected into the Senate at the age of thirty-eight and became the governor of Kwara State at forty-two. We had had two governors, Dr Abubarkar Bukola Saraki and Dr Fatah Ahmed who also became the governors of Kwara State in their early forties. With my foray into partisan politics in 1989, having been born in 1954, it means I started my political career at the age of thirty-five. We need to conclude that our politics have often been dominated by young men and women of youthful ages and energies.

Two important facts are to be established with the above catalogues of politicians and their known ages. The first is that our politics have never suffered from any form of lack of youth participation in politics. The second, is that effectiveness of people in political authority is not about age alone, some other things are also germane. We should concede that at the dawn of politics of the fourth republic in 1999, we had to make do with inexperienced politicians in both the legislative and executive arms of government in Kwara State. Though, the head of the Executive, Governor Mohammed Lawal was a retired naval officer, as far as partisan politics was concerned, he was a green horn. The head of the legislature was born in 1961, and lived perhaps for about five years under democracy before the termination of the first republic. By 1999, when he assumed the headship of the legislature, he had only lived as an adult for four years, 1979-1983 under democratic dispensation. Therefore, politicians at the commencement of the fourth republic were not experienced politicians as many were born and lived most of their years under military dictatorship. But that could not be so now that our democracy is cruising to twenty-eight years, with seven rounds of elections. We have no reason to say now, that youths are not matured for leadership in our democracy.

Our position in this write-up is that, if we had produced in Kwara State, people that are not too young or old to rule and we still remain this backward and divided; there is the need to look beyond age in our decisions that lead to recruitment of our political leaders. We need raw energy, wisdom, knowledge, capacity, integrity and character; domiciled in the leaders, whether old or young, before this state would develop and fulfils its destiny. Therefore, for young people to succeed in the politics of this state, they must possess a combination of knowledge, skills, character and strategic capacity beyond youthfulness. They ought to be critical of what goes on in their environment. Knowledge of the constitution, electoral laws, party structure, functions of government institutions are necessary.

Youth must be able to articulate positions on key national issues like poverty, insecurity, quality education, functional health, rural infrastructures and unemployment. Youth need to have leadership capacity that can make strong decisions. Youth that would henceforth matter should have ability to manage pressure and ready to take responsibility for actions taken. The youth that will be needed for leadership should be the youths of antecedents. What had he done in his local community of birth or domicile? While in school, was he politically active or docile? Does he see politics as a post retirement preoccupation or a vocation he could practice for further enrichment; after ill-gotten wealth in some other questionable circumstances? Youth that should be considered for office should also be an effective communicator. There will always be the need for young politicians to communicate their ideas, not only on social media, but in town hall meetings, party gatherings and grassroots fora.

In an era when public trust in politicians is low, before young people can be seen as a credible alternative to the old generation; they must demonstrate honesty, accountability and transparency. This can only be garnered by youths that had done a lot of work in unions and community services where they have had record of integrity and character. Young persons must be resilience in the face of ups and downs of politics.

There is the need for determination by the youth to succeed. In politics are setbacks, criticism, and sometimes hostility. Young persons must navigate the murky dangerous terrain of politics with patience, persistence and ability to learn from failures. Financial management is also key to young persons in politics. In fact, finance is key to political breakthrough, and many otherwise credible candidates are often by-passed by money bags. So, youth must develop marketable ideas that can be sold to the people in fund-raising for elections. Those who see politics as national and community transformation through service tend to attract greater trust and sustainable financial and other supports.

But the youths in politics in Kwara of today do not exhibit the above values. Our politics is characterized by flamboyant showmanship, attainment of political power through manipulations of process. They play politics without principle, ideas, programs and ideology. They equally engage in deceptions, obscene corruption in high places to gain political offices. Their shortcut to political limelight is through sponsorship by godfathers. If all these are the dominant behaviors of our youth in politics, it means whether old or young, we have accepted as normal, the present state of our politics. Our politics appears stabilized on wrong values. The youth either does not believe or do no meaningful work for a new acceptable direction that leads to creation of new values through which a new society that can lead to development is created. It appears that the desire of the youth is to replace the old ones and continue with the continuous plunder of the state resources. Does it really matter then to the people who gets to political authority when the outcome is the same?

Many Kwara youths are unsure of themselves when it comes to political choices that can distinguish them on their way to the attainment of political power. They want to be validated by the existing system, that is not working. To them, the royal way to political limelight is to hide under the shadow of some godfathers, whether local; or national. Somebody wants to be the governor of Kwara State, and when you ask him how he would emerge as a candidate, he simply tells you that he is the candidate of the Governor, the President, the son of the President or the wife of the President. He believes that once he is endorsed by these people, he is excellent to go. Where is the type of programs that JS Olawoyin presented to the then people of his constituency that brought him popularity that was responsible for his iconic position in the annals of history? If Dr Olusola Saraki was waiting for the endorsement of greater politicians at the point of entry into politics; what turned to be his illustrious career in politics, would never have been attained. Youth need to believe and assert themselves in politics.

Yes, I can see them. I can see them, very strong on social media than bonding with the people. They want to lead the people whose ways of life they hardly understand. Perhaps, that is why they seek power not from the people, but from their godfathers. They leave people out of their politics and cling to their godfathers. They ape the behaviour, mannerism of their godfather in dressing, talking and even walking. When what the godfather says or does did not even make sense, they carelessly nod in approval. They worship godfathers during birthdays, wedding ceremonies of their children, burial ceremonies of relations of the godfather, etc. To them, that is politics; politics of gubernatorial ascendency. From their background, you cannot trace their love for the people. They were never in the Students’ union of their days, in their towns or villages, no contribution to community development efforts. Even if they had no money to give to the community when they were young, they had no services in volunterism in community services. They lived in the cities of Nigeria or abroad without knowing their roots until they developed desires for public office through politics. By birth they are members of the community, but in reality, they are aliens. Yet, they want to lead. What result must we expect from such alien community members?

Now that they want to embark on a political journey, they take to political philanthropy as a means of contact with the people. A borehole here and there, payment of WAEC and NECO fees, taking care of some widows, and a little assistance for small businesses. If this philanthropy is informed by genuine intention, no qualm. But if it is politically motivated, it is a scam. Where is the document of the agenda of the youths that say, it is “our” turn? They have none, except one generated by Artificial Intelligence (AI). And even if they have committed to memory such document; with ability for good presentation, the capacity and skills for its implementation is nil. From the posters and their billboards, one can know the person in actual political contest and control. The youths of today hangs his campaign posters with the godfather’s photograph that is not contesting at the background. It would be easy to conclude that such youth is the proxy of the sponsor with whom electorate have no bond or contract. That is the low level in which our leadership recruitment has sunk.

And some people have acquired reputation, accolades and awards for being youth and gender friendly by sponsoring and appointing youths and women into offices. If the appointments and assistance to gain political office by the young persons are with honest intentions, it is a policy in the right direction. But it apparently shows that it is a subjugation and abuse of the innocence of the unwary youths. We need to watch these youths that are not properly mentored by the person that appointed them, neither were they given serious exposure and opportunities to improve themselves. What will happen to them after the tenure, is a forgone conclusion.

And there are several issues on which youths desirous of making a great career in politics can distinguish themselves. In Kwara State, we have challenges of: unity in the heterogeneous community of Kwara, youth unemployment, lack of equity, fairness, and justice within the system, corruption in government, education and health that is a century older than the world modern trends, etc. I still wonder why the youth of this generation can not mobilize electorates with all these, instead of time tested, but failed strategies of stomach infrastructure.

Let me close this discourse with erstwhile youths of African that can be emulated. At the time Bassirou Diomaye Faye became the President of Senegal, he was forty-six years old. But his political journey had been marked by years of struggles that made him face state repression, imprisonment and dissolution of his political Party. He overcame the challenges, not by operating in the shadow of his father, uncles and godfather. His election was a generational change. His campaign issues were economic reform, anti-corruption measures and greater national sovereingnty. He also went through activism in the union structure and was an expert in party management and strategies. Youth here would never manage any party, but wish always to be in government, where money, the great object of their mission, is found. They will also not like to be a Nelson Mandela who at age twenty-five, joined the African National Congress Youth League and through a long walk to freedom, later became the President of South Africa.

What I advocate for the youth of Kwara State is leadership beyond age. They must cultivate a combination of knowledge, skills, character and strategic resilence. For those that may want to challenge my qualifications to write this, I simply wish they goggle my political trajectory or go to my website https//akoguniyiola.com.

Akogun Iyiola Oyedepo is a Politician, Legal Practitioner and Development Advocate