Good evening my fellow brothers and sisters, the ebullient Youths of Ijesa North.
I have written to you in the past to salute your resilience and creativity in the face of daunting challenges. My impression of you all as industrious, dedicated and courageous people imbues me with great respect and admiration for you.
I am fully aware of the contours of the challenges you face, the steep projections that oppose your dreams and ambition, and it is this shared knowledge and pain that helps me identify with you all as fellow comrades, and as my brothers and sisters.
Now, this is a dangerous time, and today, I have resolved to tell you something different.
I am specifically writing to you to say WAKE UP! Wake up from your disbelief. Wake up from your cocoons of economic and political apathy and resignation. Let's get up, pick ourselves up, and work. Yes it is a dangerous time. Let's work together for ourselves, for our future. Let's build together those dreams we have long had and still have of our community and nation at large.
There is an overlooked verse in the second stanza of our national anthem that says; Help our youths the truth to know! That line is apt because knowledge is power, ignorance is slavery. Today let me share with you a universal truth; Nobody will do anything for you but you. Nobody will gift you a new life and living if you idle away unwilling to lift a finger to influence the situations around you. This is why bad leaders thrive on feeding you handouts, to keep you in perennial servitude and away from the truth.
It is foolish to keep on dreaming and then wake up as old men and women whose time came and went past without event. It is also irresponsible of us to waste away the vigour of our youthfulness in unfruitful pursuits, while crying foul as armchair critics of unrepentant bad leaders. Are we truly not tired of waking up to the same stories and shedding tears over the same sorrow? Nigeria is in a comatose and if we are not careful, we will lose in this intensive care unit and there will be no country to call our own again. For as days roll into weeks, weeks into months, months into years, we are getting older, weaker and weary.
There is an urgent need for us to engender the spirit of belief in ourselves and commit ourselves to recreating the big picture, one in which we are not led as lambs to the slaughter but are ourselves shepherds of a new Nigerian society. To achieve anything written of here or dreamt of we must wake up and force a change through. The way to go is to take more than a passing interest in the politics of our immediate society and Nigeria generally. That interest must be expressed actively and sincerely.
We must be concerned about the workings of government and how we can make government more efficient through sound and robust engagement of our elected and appointed leaders. We need to show interest in political offices for the purpose of genuine service to our people.
Let me address the issue of belief in the validity and possibility of our dreams with an example from amongst us - Hon. Busayo Oluwole Oke, our esteemed representative. Hon. Oke got into the House of Representatives, Federal level while still less than 35 years old. At the time of his electoral emancipation the nation was in the hands of gerontocrats, seasoned old men adept in the acquisition of power. Hon. Oke, having overcome an earlier defeat in a local government election successfully ran the gauntlet again and till date serves as one of the oldest members of the House of Representatives. That is some evidently long years ago.
Mind you, I have only cited the example of Hon. Oke to emphatically reiterate the fact that the age of our youths must not be taken for granted. Sadly, for our constituency, the Oke example has not been replicated as youths have neither been encouraged nor bold enough to take the bull by the horns. One would rightly expect that by now we should have over 100 youths within the ages of 30 and 40years struggling to contest the position of House of Assembly, House of Representatives and the Senate, actively participating in the politics. But that is not the case because the current generation of politicians are not building young followers but rather empires and political dynasties where you and I will be paid slavish salaries not earned.
We must not allow the political class to monopolize our common destiny. Monopoly equals exploitation. No one ought to monopolize the people's common wealth, and political power. Competition on the other hand engenders competence, and this is why we have upon us a great responsibility to challenge the status quo and take charge ourselves. Let's tell ourselves the truth, and that is that nothing works all by itself without some form of efforts.
As we approach an elective year, my hopes are that more and more amongst
As we approach an elective year, my hopes are that more and more amongst us will rise to the call to service. I hope also that our slumbering will end and a new era of political consciousness will pervade our engagement with the society. I hope that we will together till the soil, plant ourselves firmly and refuse to be dictated to at random by events and situations that CAN BE brought under control.
The future is ours for the taking, dear youths of our state. I am happy and excited to have you all along on this journey of rediscovery and service. One could not ask for better partners in progress. We stand at the threshold of opportunity and must now show the world and our nation the strength of our convictions and unity.
Never stop believing, never give up hope.
Stand up now, locate your position and declare your interest and let's
Do not forget, this is also an invitation to partnership. I will be contesting for the position of House of Representatives, Oriade/Obokun Federal Constituency and your support is crucial.
Pelumi Olajengbesi Esq
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