When young people get carried away in self hypnosis, older sensible people must wake them up from their Oasis of Delusion.
A Presidential Election was just concluded where a very Popular President was returned to office despite a lot of open threats by PDP and heavy circulation of funds to influence people to vote for their Party.
Somewhere, someplace, there was a radical who had gotten public sympathy and support previously via an online news site that became known for busting open graft stories especially. Along the line because of the new found popularity of the website which was purely commercial and made money, his name came to fore.
Rather than sticking to what seemed like a Patriotic zeal, and winning more support for the News site, we began to see arrogance manifest and stories of blackmail. We also heard stories about Foundations supporting the News Site and the conversion of property. These were stories that were not substantiated except for a time in Lagos where he was arrested supposedly for Blackmail. We never knew what came out of the issue of arrest in the end.
Any reasonable person will think, with these scandals, the Guy ought to pipe down and focus solely on building back the reputation of his online money maker. Instead we saw him jump into Politics and Touting that he will defeat a very Popular and proven Presidency. Suddenly we saw him embarking on a global tour as if he was running for global Presidency. Throughout the election Period, I can only personally remember about 7 or 8 activities or photo ops media coverage.
With the exception of some Youth, most Nigerians were amazed at the Global running around, but understood when we became aware that it was raising huge funds for a campaign that we hardly saw. Some Youth had been indoctrinated with “It’s our tine”, “It’s our turn”, and that was enough reasoning to want a Presidential Candidate that had no prior experience at Managing anything but an online news site.
WE HAVE A PROBLEM WITH THE THINKING PROCESS OF OUR YOUTH!!!!
However, for the sake of experience in partaking in Party Politics, we can excuse these misguided young people who still have no grasp of the intricacies of the Executive Governance of a Country.
IT WAS NO SURPRISE THAT HE GOT JUST AROUND 35K VOTES.
What did they expect? It was out there that their campaign had no accountability. It was out there that the global jaunting raised plenty of money, but nobody but one person knew how much. Did they think Nigerians are that stupid to fall for a gimmick? They as-expected lost woefully!!!
Just like Cocaine and other hard drugs, once a person gets into them, it will suck them in. SO IS BLACKMAIL. A person who believes he has been very successful in blackmailing his way into getting things will get addicted to it. If anything, #RevolutionNow has convinced many like me that the rumours were accurate. We were out rallying and saw the huge crowds that brought back a very popular President. There were no gimmicks and it felt like a ‘Mecca’ for people both online, but especially offline to come to a Venue where he actually campaigned.
Despite President Buhari’s well known and obvious popularity he still embarked on campaigning throughout Nigeria. He did not sit in Abuja or Lagos, or jaunt all over the world counting on proxies to campaign for him. He became even more popular for this and people loved him. The fear was about the crowds and how to try reduce them to avoid losses usually related to large crowds.
After elections and the obvious, suddenly a person who couldn’t gather a crowd outside certain parts of Lagos suddenly started marketing himself as a Leader who would topple a very popular President who just got voted back in Power.
IT WAS UTTER MADNESS, AND WE SHOULD SEEK PSYCHIATRIC HELP FOR THOSE WHO EVEN THOUGHT IT COULD HAPPEN.
The media gave them more attention than deserved since they have a gripe with the President who has refused to follow an old tradition of handing them brown envelopes for positive stories. He dared and they were going to teach him a lesson. We have since seen how stories get twisted and outright falsehood being published in the name of Freedom of Press.
When Omoyele Sowore got arrested, it may have saved many lives. His utterances covered by the Media had enraged many. If #RevolutionNow went unchecked, there would have been a counter revolution. Those who worked hard for and voted their President will have mobilized and things will have gotten out of hands. I thank GOD that didn’t happen, because we may have seen a bloodbath and disruptions of our Economy for a while. Youthful exuberance mixed with Blackmail will have brought us chaos, and like Nnamdi Kanu, Sowore will have slipped off into America and start making noise from there leaving Widows and Parent behind mourning.
Prosecution has now shared with us how Sowore was transferring money from Nigeria to America while shouting #RevolutionNow. Our Youth definitely need to be reoriented to be more discerning and stop falling into the hands of people who want to use them as discard-ables. We have a problem in Nigeria with people including adults being incapable of thinking a few steps ahead instead of just what is served to them.
When someone on Facebook asked me why I wasn’t involved in #RevolutionNow, I asked them what Buhari has done wrong that deserves a revolution after what Nigeria has suffered in the hands of PDP for 16 years? I also need to know if they are aware of the true costs of a revolution while they complain about the cost of maintaining INEC? Why didn’t they think about having a revolution with all the ‘stealing is not corruption’, and the infamous Theory of Goats and Yams?
Let me ask our Youth if they are capable of deep thoughts and being able to run a local government if they can be so easily bamboozled by Sowore?
Now I will advise as an Elder. It is time our Youth forget influences that have derailed proper reasoning from them. It is now time to use your brains if you really and truly care about Sowore. Gather yourselves together and discuss common sense. Then go to the Police to ask for permission to hold a rally. Make sure you don’t even mention the word ‘protest’. If granted, invite the Media and all prostrate flat on the ground appealing to our President to intervene in any way possible to pardon a person who has indeed carried out acts of TREASON.
STOP THE GRAGRA THAT WILL DIG HIS GRAVE DEEPER AND BEG FOR FORGIVENESS!!!
We can try blame it on Youthful exuberance and make a case that even some Boko Haram fighters were forgiven. Goodluck with your quest, and I may join you when you’re ready to DOBALE.
Femi Animashaun
