70% of Nigeria's population is under 30 years (as of 2021).

147,980,000 of 211,400,000 is under 30 years.

Pause and think on that statement for at least five minutes.

Some of them are at home because of ASUU strike.

Some of them have parents who have not been paid salaries for months because of ASUU strike.

They watch their youth being wasted.

Someone that was 22 years when Buhari took office will be 30 by the time Buhari leaves office.

Add another 8 years to that, he will be 38 years.

If another Buhari takes over from the one there now,

He would have wasted his whole youthful age.

Trying to survive in a jungle he found himself.

Some of them protested during ENDSARS and were killed.

They are being harassed every day by the police for owning laptops and iPhones.

They are angry.

They are frustrated.

When they cried, they were shut up.

They lost hope in their country and their rulers.

They wake up every day planning how to escape from the hell hole they found themselves in.

Then one day, a man showed up on the scene,

And made three simple statements:

1. Turn Nigeria from CONSUMPTION to PRODUCTION.

2. Remove the SHARING FORMULA and replace it with the PRODUCTION FORMULA.

3. UNLEASH THE HIDDEN POTENTIALS OF OUR YOUTH

BOOM!

A ray of light.

A spark of hope.

He dialed their number.

He spoke their language.

He made them feel that they matter.

They saw how he invested in the education of young people as a state governor.

So they put their hope and trust in him.

He became a symbol of their dreams and aspirations.

He became the rallying point they had been looking for.

A platform to finally change the system that failed them.

A platform through which they can vent their accumulated pain, anger, and frustration.

For them, it is a fight for survival.

That's why they are investing their time, talent and resources to campaign for a man they have never met.

That's why they go for your head each time you try to denigrate their symbol of hope in an environment they consider hopeless.

That's why they chew you raw when they see you promote the same people they see as the cause of their pain.

They are tired of being ignored and treated like they don't matter.

They have finally decided to be seen and heard.

And to take back their country from the hands of hyenas and jackals.

Simba has finally realized who he is.

And that the Pride belongs to him, not to Scar and the hyenas.

And he is on his way to take it back.

If you are part of the system that killed his father and desecrated his country, be very afraid.

For he will not spare you if you don't change your ways.

Your usual arrogance will be your undoing.

Make no mistake about it,

2023 election is the youth against a corrupt system that has kept them under for too long.

It's not business as usual.

Welcome to the second half of the year.

© Okeke Ifeanyi
Monday, July 4, 2022