Globally, we have witnessed a trend of a younger generation of vibrant and charismatic people emerging as world leaders – Prime Ministers and Presidents of their countries.
David William Donald Cameron is the youngest UK Prime Minister in nearly 200 years. At the age of 43, Cameron became the youngest British Prime Minister since the Earl of Liverpool 198 years earlier. Barack Hussein Obama, born in 1961, is the 44th and current President of the United States.
The Nigerian political firmament has also felt the ripples of this emerging global trend. A new generation of young Nigerian politicians and their growing legion of supporters have engaged the political landscape in recent times with debates and the clamour for a change of guard. Some have even been successfully nominated as the Presidential flag bearers of a number of opposition political parties. These include Mallam Nuhu Ribadu (Action Congress of Nigeria), Pat Utomi (Social Democratic Mega Party), Dele Momodu (National Conscience Party) and Kris Okotie (Fresh Democratic Party).
These patriotic and possibly well meaning Nigerians have presented themselves as candidates to serve their fatherland. One salutes their courage and resilience in pushing the frontiers for this change initiative. But sadly this is not the first outing to clinch the top job by a number of them. Some have seemingly been turning around on the same spot in a series of motions without movement over the years. This scenario calls for introspection and reevaluation of tactics. Is it that the time for the desired change has not yet come? Have the new breed politicians taking a wrong fork in the road? Are they sowing seeds in the wrong soil? Or these are not the players for the expected transformation?
The difference between the old and new brigade are conceptualized in the professed ideologies and politics of progressive ideas of the new breed political gladiators rather than money bag politics, their touted integrity and credibility rather than politics of ‘godfatherism’, and the democratic and disciplined party politics and structure compared to the selections, adoptions and impositions of the old breed political parties.
But it seems these articulated differences in the approach to politics are mere posturing. Most of the new breed politicians have emerged as flag bearers from the same undemocratic cesspit and mould of selections, adoptions and impositions in their various political parties. The touted progressive ideas and blueprints have also not been forthcoming from the new breed politicians. They’ve been regurgitating the same platitudes and empty rhetoric of the old guards. Their transformational ideas are seemingly kept in the closets of their minds and possibly revealed only to close family and friends in whispers. Some of the aspiring politicians are not visible or known beyond the cities of Lagos and possibly Abuja.
The new brigade are also polarized by personal egos rather than embracing the bond of the common cause or good of all. They do not have the funds or structures on ground like the old brigade to mount any serious opposition but rather than pool resources, blend or align their progressive idealism and mount a collective opposition, they build individual tents on shaky foundations. Also, unlike Barack Obama and David Cameron, some never started from the grassroots and may not, in all honesty, even win a local government election.
The clamour for a new direction or radical departure from the status quo in Nigerian politics will remain an illusion if the new brigade do not properly plan, position and prepare themselves. Barack Obama did not have the high visibility of Hillary Rodham Clinton during the Democratic Party presidential primaries. But he gained a steady lead in pledged delegates due to his grassroots mobilization, better long-range planning, superior fundraising, dominant organizing in caucus states and better exploitation of delegate allocation rules. Similarly, in the 2010 general election held on 6 May in the UK, the Conservatives gained a plurality of seats in a hung parliament and Cameron was appointed Prime Minister on 11 May 2010, at the head of a coalition between the Conservatives and the Liberal Democrats.
Our new breed politicians need to reevaluate their tactics and step up their game by forming stronger alliances and coalitions. They can borrow a leaf from the electioneering and coalition strategies of both Obama and Cameron. They need to unveil their roadmap and convince the electorate in a language they can comprehend. They need to demonstrate to Nigerians that this is a change they can believe in and how they intend taking us from where we are to where we ought to be. For them to achieve the seemingly impossible task of dislodging the old brigade, they have to offer a better alternative in terms of ideas, have a united front and mount an extraordinary challenge.
As things are currently, the new brigade often make you wonder if they were half-awake when they made their political declarations or if the ritual is deliberately embarked upon to provide comic relief to long suffering Nigerians.
No comments:
Post a Comment