how long will our leaders stay in power.

“In 1979, Bamanga Tukur was the Governor of the defunct Gongola State (now Adamawa & Taraba) and 33 years after, he is still the Chairman of the ruling Party. Dr. Bello Halliru was commissioner in the Old Sokoto State (now Sokoto, Kebbi & Zamfara) and 33 years after, he remains  the Minister of Defence(until recently); Major General David Mark (rtd) was the military governor of Niger State in 1984 and 28 years after he is still the Senate President.

Also, Governor Murtala Nyako was the governor of Niger State in 1976 and 36 years after he is still the Governor of Adamawa State; Ogbonnaya Onu was governor of Abia State in 1992 and 20 years after he is still the National Chairman of ANPP “ and the list goes on. I will not bore you, but you get the gist and then it concluded that “ in 1985, IBB was the president of Nigeria and and he wants to be the president again.

This political musical chairs has gone on long enough; for far too long our politicians have seen the post as their political birthright. They even divvied up our country and grab pieces of states like a gold rush .Well when , IBB did abdicate in 1993, but then had a change of mind and he joined the power rush in 2011.

Why the change of mind, you asked? IBB stated he threw his cap in the ring because the younger generation are not able to rule the country! Well, that does not imbue confidence in the younger generation. I suppose he was born ready and able to rule so, he never was young or was he?

What they have done is to condemn a whole generation in one swoop and that is not right. It would have been valid, if , previous governments had not been riddled with corruption, extortion, looting of the natural resources and all manners of abuse of power.

Really, so the younger generation can’t do worse than the old guards, why should they not be given the chance? The only reason, it seems to me that he feels he is missing out and woe betide any wiper snapper who wants to jostle him for power

We have seen many times whenever a younger, enigmatic and idealistic person comes along, they lure him to the dark side and if that does not work then, should the young person rises amongst the ranks, they are subsequently silenced(we know, they do have ways and means). No wonder that young people are hesitant to participate in the political machinery that does not include them, in fact it actively isolates them to the fringes of mainstream politics.

About time these politicians stopped playing political musical chairs with our nation’s younger generation. They do not care that many of our younger people are not in employment, training or in education so they wonder why our society is  so morally vacuous?  So how have  they  prepared them to take over or even still compete with the rest of the world? So when is enough enough? There has to be a limit. It is high time the old guard quietly let  go and retire gracefully to pasture.

I mean they have feathered their nest enough haven’t they? No matter how much they repackage the politics or political parties, the mixture remains the same; old wine in new bottles, still the same old plunk not worthy of its vintage.