The Mission of Nigerian Youth – 2023 Elections

So many comments (LinkedIn and Facebook) on the Mission of the Youth as Nigeria 2023 election goes into the knock-out phase. Let me help to explain even though I am not claiming to be a political scientist. But since the professors are on strike, some of us, the lay political scientists on the street, will fill the void left by the experts. We hope they return to work soon!

Here is the deal: the youth are party-agnostic. In other words, they do not vote along party-lines. In Osun State, the Labour Youth, APC Youth, etc, supported the PDP Youth’s candidate. Yes, they felt the PDP candidate was a better person. In Ekiti State, the APC candidate was preferred by the Youth. They supported him.

The implication is massive: if you think that party can hide the candidate, you will be surprised. If Governor Zulum of Borno joins the ABCD Party, the youth of Borno State will vote for him. That he is in APC does not diminish his impressive people’s leadership. I consider him a visionary when you see what he has accomplished with the resources available in his state. He gets my vote even if he joins a new party tomorrow. Governor Soludo is showing sparks of great leadership; he is going to the root causes of issues and I rate him Outperform (we do that in Tekedia Capital as we classify our startups).

As 2023 arrives, I maintain that all the top three candidates (Obi, Tinubu and Atiku)  have clear paths to the presidency if INEC keeps the contest free and fair. In a viral video from Ibadan which trended yesterday, the market women made it clear: if they give us money, we will take, but in the end, we will vote for the best candidate. If stomach infrastructure fails, a new future will begin in Nigeria. (Do not bank on that though, it would be hard for the most vulnerable citizens.)

These are things I will be watching for in the next three months: how engaged the youth are in social media and how those who use loudspeakers in markets, streets, etc, to pass messages continue to do just that. We are used to pastors preaching in markets; today, many young people are preaching good governance in markets and streets. 

I am liking this because I belong to ALL PARTIES in Nigeria but I choose none. For me, it is always “May the best Candidate Win”! And if you check, that is the mission of the Nigerian youth –  the best candidate is the choice.

Comment on Feed

Comment: I find this rather confusing.
This presents the youths as having no agenda and confused. All parties agenda is no agenda. The youths of each party only have the agenda of their party as their agenda, otherwise they become outlaws in the party.
The position articulated in this post effectively dissolves the threat on the social media about the youths taking back their country! I am not sure how true this is.

My Response: this is Nigerian politics. What agenda can you point that APC has that PDP does not. This is not US where you have ideologies running politics with pro-life, pro-choice. In Nigeria, parties are a group of people and there is no core. So, do not be confused with the youth, They know one thing: Nigeria has one party but there are groups in different packages – umbrella, humans, broom, etc with slogans. So, ignore them and focus on the candidates. Every key person in APC today was in PDP/AD/ADC before 2013.

Register for Tekedia Mini-MBA (Feb 10 - May 3, 2025), and join Prof Ndubuisi Ekekwe and our global faculty; click here.