There is nothing for young people to look forward to in this land – By Bolanle Austen-Peters
Politics, Buhari, Saro the Musical and Democracy. 2015; Election fever, every vote counted.
On the campaign trail, Presidential aspirant, Mr. [Muhammadu] Buhari and his team stopped by to watch Saro the musical. It was strategic, to show he loved the youth.
The excitement was palpable. When he came into the hall, the play was momentarily disrupted as everyone shouted for joy. Sai BABA. We were delirious. We were in love. He wanted the youth vote and they gave him.
We all rushed to the polling booths to vote. We used social media to spread support for him. Since then we have had a wreck of a ride. We wanted change so we got change. The joy turned to pain. Facts don’t lie.
How do we get out of this mess? The same way we got here. This is THE desire for survival especially for the youth. There is nothing for young people to look forward to in this land. Youth and women should come together to form a party. We need at least 60% of youth and women in politics going forward. They constitute the most of this nation much more than the 60+ average age group leading us. A group that stifles freedom of expression when it is not convenient and fights wars with APPS. Every generation and gender brings something unique and different to the table.
This monopoly by old people must end. With all due respect to all my friends in government, it must be on record that we are all baring our minds. We must also be able to do so freely, without fear and on any platform so long as it is not injurious to third parties. We must agree to disagree to agree to move this nation forward.
No one should also “dictate” what type of virtual platform people can speak from. That is arbitrariness. Everyone is hurting. Compassion is needed to rule. Our children need to hold us accountable. We cannot continue to be silent. This is our nation as much as it is the Politicians.
We must hold Politicians accountable and they work for us not the other way round. It is a systemic problem not specific to this present administration and decades of rot. So with my craft, I coined this dance to demonstrate the craze in democracy in “Fela and the Kalakuta Queens” Democracy by Fela. God help us.
