It is an open secret that the Nigerian youths perish in silence due to joblessness and hopelessness that bedevil them consistently. It is high time we took a decisive action to end this lingering era of indescribable suffering that kills us and drives many of us to be criminals of circumstances. Many of us are executed abroad for drugs peddling while a lot die in Mediterranean sea in their struggle for survival.
Everybody knows that you (the current ruling elite of Nigeria) were beneficiaries of good leadership and were also bequeathed a functional system by your fathers. Instead of you to maintain that spirit and benefits of good leadership to all Nigerian youths irrespective of their backgrounds, you end up favouring your biological children and close ones only.
This situation is what puts the Nigerian youths in the present quandary of joblessness and hopelessness that surreptitiously kills us. We are fully aware that you empower your children with our collective national resources at our detriment.
We sincerely know that our fellow youths have every reason to be kidnappers, Boko Haram fighters, Niger Delta militants and IPOB members because they are deprived of opportunities to legitimately survive in favour of your sons and daughters whom you give all privileges and opportunities that should be justly shared among all Nigerians, but we kept mute for the interest of peace.
You deny us opportunities and make the environment not conducive for survival.
Early this year, I went round many Nigerian states including war-torn Borno and Yobe states and interacted with numerous youth groups. I discovered from my interaction with these youth groups that most of the Nigerian youths are depressed, frustrated and ready to do anything, including criminal activities, to survive.
One graduate in one of the North-Eastern states did blatantly tell me that as long as he knew where he could join Boko Haram, he would surely join them because Nigeria had failed and disappointed him. What I heard from my fellow youths regarding their sufferings had made me shed tears.
My fellow youths lost hope in the Nigerian project and it is this hopelessness that make them joining kidnapping syndicates, Boko Haram, IPOB, Niger Delta movements, armed bandits, etc.
We are pushed to the wall indeed. And we will not join criminal groups but we will revolutionize the whole system, the system that frustrates and disappoints us, in any way possible.
We will not take any excuse again. We will no longer be bribed or consoled with temporary stipends such as Npower, Sure-P, etc. We will not accept any governmental palavers again.
Yes, you can imprison some of us but you cannot imprison all of us. You can kill some of us but you cannot kill all of us. We would rather die as martyrs of justice and good leadership than perish in silence.
We will no longer allow our fellow youths to remain your thugs, political jobbers or social media propagandists. This is what you want us to be and remain while you educationally, economically and politically empower your children so that they will continue from where you stop.
We since realized that election is nothing in Nigeria but seasonal ritual that gives room for an exchange of positions of power among the ruling elite. You may say that you had passed the ‘not too young to run’ bill. Yes, you did pass it but for the direct benefits of your children. How can we run for elective positions while we struggle to survive and usually perish in silence.
We are no longer afraid of any consequence as we had already suffered enough dose of the consequences of your lingering bad leadership. We will certainly take a decisive action now by utilizing all means available.
We have no business whether it is the APC or PDP that rules, the way we do not care whether it is a Muslim or Christian that rules. We also have no business whether it is Northerner or Southerner that rules.
All Nigerian youths, from all religions, tribes and regions, are suffering due to the bad leadership that you entrenched in Nigeria. Only few of us, especially those from ruling class, are safe.
Hence, we must change the current political order and ruling elite of Nigeria, and make sure Nigeria works for everyone irrespective of tribe, party, religion or ethnicity. The ball is in our court and we will surely act soon without the fear of any reaction or repercussion.
As said by Franklin D. Roosevelt, “We, and all others who believe in freedom as deeply as we do, would rather die on our feet than live on our knees.”
We conclude our letter with a motivational quote from Thomas Jefferson which says, “Occasionally the tree of Liberty must be watered with the blood of Patriots and Tyrants.”
Comrade Muhammed Ishaq, for the “Enough is Enough Coalition (EEC)”. He can be reached at [email protected]
The views expressed in this article are the author’s and do not necessarily reflect WikkiTimes’ editorial stance.
