2023: Nigerian youths out to prove a point

Pat Utomi, professor of political economy, says young Africans, including young Nigerians, are tired of how politicians are governing them, stressing that the youths will prove a point in the 2023 elections.

Utomi who spoke during an interview on Channels Television, said Africans are fed up with the government that does not work.

Speaking on the chances of Labour Party and its presidential candidate, Peter Obi, Utomi, a chieftain of the party, said the recent elections in Africa show that politicians who are popular on social media can actually win elections.

“Look at what is happening in Africa in the recent elections — Malawi, Zambia, Kenya and Botswana — all of the people that were ridiculed as internet champions won,” he said.

“Politicians display this obsessive self-love and they do trading off in transactions for their self-interest, forgetting the people. This is what has kept Nigeria below par.

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“The youths of Africa are saying this cannot continue. They proved it in Kenya, Malawi and they are going to prove it in Nigeria.”

Asked what strategy LP plans to engage in to defeat the traditional political parties, Utomi said Nigerian youths, who constitute the huge population of the country, are now willing to rescue their country.

“We have a strategy that is so clear. You know, elections in Nigeria have been producing low turnouts yearly even though the population is growing. Why is that so?

“Traditionally, most of those votes (referring to previous elections) came from rigging. Electoral law has made it more difficult to do those things.

“Young people, who typically say, ‘let them do what they want to do, have said enough is enough, we cannot japa, we have to stay here and save our country’.

“And these young people constitute a huge part of the population. The strategy is to make those young people not just voters but protectors of the votes.”