From: Chukwudi Nweje
Immediate past governor of Ondo State, Dr. Olusegun Mimiko, has charged Nigerian youths to embrace education and thirst for knowledge, saying it was the only way they could make good leaders.
Mimiko spoke at the Nigeria’s Emerging Political Leaders Forum with the theme: ‘2019 Election Election and Youth Participation in Political Leadership in Nigeria : Prospects and Strategies for Young Leaders’ , organised by GLEEHD Foundation yesterday at the Eko Club, in Lagos.
The forum discussed among other issues, ‘Not too young but too broke to RUN: Funding, Financing and Crowdfunding for campaign; Building a Political and Campaign Structure: Strategies for Success; Harnessing New and Conventional Media for Grassroot Mobilisation; Managing issues of Party Supremacy, Internal Democracy and Your vision to lead.
On the ‘Not Too Young to Run’ Bill, Mimiko said the bill would not make much impact in the country’s politics if the youths were not adequately prepared to take the mantle. He listed vision, passion, politics and power as inseparable elements Nigerian youths needed to bring the desired change they need.
Said he, “Vision is an image of a substance to come in the future, but which you already see. Passion is your deep desire for something, politics is the process you must pass through to acquire power and power is what you need to make the change you want to see.
“You cannot lead if you cannot see what other people don’t see. You must know what you want; if you don’t enlighten yourself, other people will write your future for you. It is when you are not enlightened that politicians give you money to vote for them and when they get there, they mortgage your future,” he said.
Majority Leader of the House of Representative, Hon Femi Gbajabiamila , who spoke on the Affirmative Action said although the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) promised women more representation in the government, the party did not constitute the required number of votes needed for the amendment to scale through. He charged Nigerians to demand for the transcript of the constitution amendment process to see how their representative at the National Assembly voted on each amendment bill.
On building a political and campaign structure, former governorship candidate of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) in Lagos State during the 2015 election, Jimi Agbaje, and former Senator representing Lagos Central Olorunribe Mamora noted that anybody that wished to participate in politics must be ready to “run against the run”.
“You must be ready to create a demand for you from the outside rather than from inside. In 2007 when I first contested, the political party structure was already formed. But I went ahead to print posters which simply said Jimi OK and people started asking questions. I didn’t have money but I had ideas, ” Agbaje said.
On his part, Mamora said professionals not p err ofessional politicians we’re needed to transform Nigeria. He added that Nigerian youths must first show they are ready for leadership before it will be entrusted on them.
“I am a Medical Doctor, Jimi Agbaje is a Pharmacist and Gbajabiamila is a lawyer and I’m sure you will agree that we do things differently. I am a professional in politics and not a professional politician. If you don’t first say I am, no body will say you are. You have qualities which God deposited in you that no body can take away, ” he said.