Ex-speaker blames youth over old politicians dominance

THE immediate past speaker of the Kogi state house of assembly, Ahmed Imam, on Monday said the youths of Nigeria are not doing enough to assume leadership of the country.

This is just as his successor, Matthew Kokawole, raised the alarm over the increasing rate of money politics in the country, saying the development had gradually washed away the integrity in Nigerian politics.

Ahmed said this while delivering a paper titled: “Political Leadership, hurdles before Kogi West Youth” at a one-day summit organised by the Kogi west youth with the theme “2019 election: Setting the youth’s agenda”.

The former speaker said Nigerian youths or young politicians need to brace up and be courageous to seek political relevance through active participation in politics.

Ahmed said ”Our youths must come to terms with reality, that politics and political leadership are not a tea party. Leadership requires hard work. Our youth must show knowledge and character to convince the people that you have come of age, that their destiny is secured with you, that you are worthy of their trust and that you are prepared to make sacrifices.”

Also speaking on “Youth and Money Politics, Kogi West in Focus”, regretted that democracy in Nigeria had been battered by the money trend, adding that politics has become expensive that those who lost at the poll still spent to be defeated.

He said, “The history of Nigeria democracy has been entangled with money politics. An average youth sees election period as an opportunity for him to grab his shares of the national cake.

“The size of a politicians campaign ground can be an effective yardstick for measuring his wealth and influence but not for estimating how much people believe in his leadership abilities and potentials. Time is money to the electorate, while ears are rented.

“Throughout the world today, politics has become an expensive affair, to the extent that money is now among the greatest threats to democracy. In essence, the greater the influence of money on politics, the less influence the average citizen has.

“The major problem with money politics is that politicians tend to invest by spending in the campaign and expect profit in return. This development has affected public policies and spending priorities.

“The politicians use the opportunity of giving money in order to deceive the masses and the masses assume that is the best of what they expect from their leaders. If you are to share your view with both sides, (Politicians and masses) you will find both of them have contributed a lot spreading the problem.

“Our past leaders went into politics in those days to serve for development, not to just steal money and properties of the country and enrich themselves. These are the type of leaders that we need in Nigeria today.

“The most terrible problems with money politics is that it causes unemployment in the mind of our youths, affect the development of the nation because people take politics as a business, not something that will help in developing the country.” he explained.

David Olagunju