Chief Ayo Opadokun, an elder statesman and former Secretary-General of the defunct National Democratic Coalition (NADECO), has cautioned Nigerian youths against manipulations and inducements by politicians as the 2023 elections approach.
Opadokun gave the advice at a conference in Lagos on Wednesday, organised by the Alliance of Yoruba Democratic Movements (AYDM) on “2023 Elections and the Future of Yoruba”.
The NADECO chieftain, who reiterated the need for Nigeria to return to Federal Constitutional Governance, urged the younger generation of Yoruba youths to work assiduously with their colleagues across the nation to turn the fortune of Nigeria around for good.
Opadokun said: “Let me remind you that the aspirants, who will certainly visit you to canvass for your votes, are most likely going to attempt their usual manipulative pastimes.
“They will offer inducements to your colleagues for them to play the spoilers’ game.
“They will also make attempts at blackmailing some of you with different subterfuge as being agents of their rival aspirants.
“They may hire agents of violence to come after you so as to break whatever resistance you marshal against their selfish desire to continue with the current unproductive and rental political demagoguery, whose end is just to corner the resources of the state for themselves and their fellow collaborators.
“Therefore, you must resolve to unify your ranks and speak authoritatively as ‘Omoluabi.’
“You must be found emulating your credible forebears, who served the people meritoriously without building empires for themselves, or turning themselves into money merchants through dubious means.”
The elder statesman urged the Yoruba youths to network toward a paradigm shift from the monetised and commercialised politics that makes political officeholders over-prize themselves over the electorate.
“These politicians often claim that they have paid your bill before they were supposedly elected and that they, therefore, have no business with you again until the next election round.
“Your job has been well cut out for you. The most potent voting population today in Nigeria is the youth.
“You have to exhibit guts, tenacity, and stamina to inform, educate, conscientious, and mobilise your generation, and the youth of voting age to determine the fortune of aspirants,” he added.
The Yoruba leader urged the younger generation of youths to inquire from political aspirants on where they stand on Yoruba Agenda, especially the Yoruba Nation’s categorical demand for a return to Federal Constitutional Governance.
According to him, federalism, as was practiced in the First Republic, assisted the various governments, not only to be responsible and responsive to the electorate’s yearnings and aspirations; but also guaranteed justice, equity, and fair play, as well as the protection, defence, and consolidation of the rule of law.
The guest speaker, Prof. Olutayo Adesina of the Department of History, University of Ibadan, said that democracy had become both a battle-axe, and battleground for competing space, identities, and solidarity, with every group defending its interests.
Speaking on “2023: Challenges and Prospects of Democracy and Electoral Fortunes in the Southwest”, Adesina said that the people must understand the use of historical analogies to ensure progress for the Yoruba people.
“We should develop a realist understanding of local and regional politics by advocating ways by which the interest of the region can be advanced.
“The near- isolationist politics of the region should end. We should begin to stress less acrimony within the region and more of amity, friendship, and progress with a developmental focus. We must envision a strategy of progress,” Adesina said.
According to him, the region’s grand strategy should be driven by a philosophy known as SMART-Structure, Moment of Growth, Articulation, Reinvention and Talent.
He said that SMART was a growth and development blueprint with practical applications and designed to build a better economy and society.
Dr Fred Agbeyegbe, an Itsekiri-born humanist, playwright, and NADECO chieftain, who cautioned the youths against the selling of votes, said, “Please exercise your right properly when the time comes.”
Earlier, the Chairman of AYDM, Mr Adewale Adeoye, who decried various challenges facing the country, called for constructive engagement of Nigerians to address national problems.
Adeoye, who decried the spate of political apathy in Yoruba land, said that since 1999, the voting pattern and public enthusiasm toward elections in the western region had continued to wane.
“Many of our people appear to be losing interest in the democratic process. Millions of our people think that their votes have not been able to bring the good governmentGroup donates food items to IDPs; urges government to enhance security that all desire. This has put our people at a disadvantage.
“Increasingly, the people are marginalised based on their weak political strength expressed through their voting capacity.
“The votes coming from the southwest fail to reflect our population. This, in the future, may affect our people in the context of local, regional, national, and global politics,” he said.
The chairman urged the Yoruba people in the southwest, including Kwara, Kogi, Edo, and Itsekiri in Delta to mobilise themselves for optimum electoral output in 2023 in order to determine the future they wanted.
Reports that the conference had in attendance members of the Oodua People’s Congress (OPC); Agbekoya, Afenifere; Egbe Omo Ode; South West Women Congress; South West Youths; Itsekiri Nation Youth Movements, erudite scholars, artisans, and market groups among others.
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