A member of the House of Representatives, Hon. Olatoye Temitope Sugar, has said youths in the country have been programmed to be gullible with a view to allowing the older elite to remain in power forever.
He said the youths had become gullible to the extent that they were now intellectually challenged to even subject the process of governance to periodic interrogations.
The federal lawmaker, however, decried the attitude of some youths, who he said preferred playing football on election days, instead of going to the polling booths to cast their votes for their preferred
candidates.
He maintained that this was a manifestation of their “stark gullibility.”
The lawmaker, who is also the Chairman, House Committee on Urban Development and Regional Planning, expressed regrets that there were no serious efforts by younger Nigerians to rule the country, adding that until they
started taking the electoral process seriously and participated actively in it, they might not achieve their dream of being at the helm of political
affairs.
He said this nonchalant attitude of youths during elections and lack of will to join politics would inhibit the acceptance of the “Not Too Young To Run” campaign.
Speaking on the theme, “Youth Unemployment as Correlates of Insecurity In Nigeria – Matters Arising,” at a lecture organised by the Nigeria Union of Journalists in Osun State,
the lawmaker urged youths to stop lamenting about what they perceived as poor governance in Nigeria and run for political
positions.
He said, “The mind is like a parachute; it can only function when it is opened. To sustain the elite in power, therefore, the citizenry (majority of them youths) must be diplomatically programmed to be
gullible.
“Gullible to the extent that they become intellectually challenged to subject the process of governance to periodic interrogations. Youths need to participate in politics actively.
They must mobilise to enthrone a paradigm shift in the governance of
Nigeria.
“But it’s unfortunate that youths don’t come out to vote; instead, they prefer to play football on election days while the older generations are at polling booths. The youths are not deep. As we have bad examples in some youths whether as senators or governors, we equally have monumental bad examples of old people in Nigerian
government.
“I, therefore, urge our youths to stop agonising. The time to organise is now. I will make bold to claim I belong to that generation of youths.
Youths need to painstakingly participate in politics. Yes, we still need our elders, but we need to spice the vigour of the youth with the wisdom of the
elders.”
