By Chief Ralph Obioha
The past few days have seen an avalanche of attacks against NADECO, USA from those who are threatened by the principled position NADECO has taken against the 25th February 2023 electoral heist in Nigeria.
What these people attacking NADECO fail to realize is that the more they traduce NADECO, the more they are unwittingly waking up a sleeping giant. For avoidance of any doubt, NADECO is the agent that will ultimately disorganize the brazen fraud called elections. And NADECO is in good company with vast majorities of Nigerian youths that are sick and tired of the criminality in our electoral process.
The constituency that wishes to thwart the popular will of Nigerians in freely electing their leaders should know that even if they prevail at the moment, they are merely postponing the doomsday which may come sooner than later.
For decades, successive rogue politicians have anchored their political strategy on hate and tribalism, mixed with sectionalism. Even the civil war did not teach them enough lessons as they as soon resorted to marginalization of those they perceive to be less Nigerian than they are. This cannot stand.
No evil is eternal and that is partly why the youths from over the country have now arisen to reclaim their destinies and change the direction of their country. To be sure, the youths are no longer interested in hate and tribal baiting. The youths are instead interested in deliverance of basic governance goals like clean water, electricity, security, level-playing field and zero looting of public funds.
The wastes in Government has robbed the youths of their future and they are not taking it again. How can a government entourage contain 20 expensive vehicles including an ambulance as if our leaders are all suffering from terminal illnesses. No other country on earth is spending the money we spend on overhead which literally produces nothing for the masses.
For over 20 years, the government wisely rescued our banking system from total collapse and set up a holding company called AMCON to salvage the looming disaster threatening our banking system. 20 years later, the debts have only tripled and no single government measure has been implemented to recover such humongous loans that could have been channeled as seed capital to kickstart a youth economic and entrepreneurial revolution.
If Nigerian youths are adequately empowered, the Asian tigers will pale in comparison to the achievements they will make, all for the good of the nation. These things cannot happen if the electoral system continues to frustrate them by denying them the freewill to chose their leaders; leaders that they believe that represents the future they envisage for their country. Is this asking for too much?
So, for NADECO, the issue is not partisan politics. It is not about a Tinubu, an Atiku or a Peter Obi but it is about the future of this country and the undeniable place of Nigerian youths in shaping Nigeria’s future. That future cannot happen with stolen elections.
It is a universal axiom that the youths constitute the driving force for the orderly continuity and perpetual succession of any nation. Thus, denying them a voice through the stealing of elections, is the surest way of stoking a bloody revolution that will be the final undoing of Nigeria as we know it. Every patriotic Nigerian should avoid this by taking a firm stand against electoral malpractices. Enough is enough.
Chief Obioha, a NADECO chieftain and a former member of House of Rep wrote in from Enugu.
