For new political parties or movements to take power in the country, they must form a strong coalition with unity of interests, ideas and purpose.
Without this, the quest to upstage the old order of conservatives and political parties might forever remain a mirage. The Presidential candidate of the Social Democratic Party (SDP), Prince Adewole Adebayo made the submissions while speaking at a forum, which sought explanations and answers to the seemingly non-progressive posture of the country years after it returned to democracy.
Adebayo declared that young Nigerians who desire a leadership revolution must form a common front again the old order in the next election cycle, if they truly desire change.
Citing his experience in the just concluded general election, he observed that during the campaigns and the elections proper, majority of the new political parties and their candidates were running individual races in their various zones and locations, thereby reducing the collective strength of the young and new entrants.
While ruing the missed opportunity to form meaningful alliances ahead of the elections, Adebayo also noted that collaborative efforts with other young parties during the campaign and election could not materialise because some of the people representing the parties were mere placeholders who had no power of their own to decide their fate.
“Many of the people in politics are merely agents, not principals. The reason President Muhammadu Buhari and Bola Tinubu could form a coalition is because Buhari is nobody’s boy; he was the leader of his own team. Tinubu is not a follower of anybody; he is not anybody’s boy.
“You may be forming alliance with some people, while in actual fact they are working for establishment people. And once they call them into the room and tell them what to do, that’s exactly what they will do.
“The people you want to follow are also following and shadowing some people too. So, you must be sure the people contesting are doing so on their own,” he said.
Adebayo also frowned at the element and magnitude of foreign funding in Nigeria’s election, whether to government institutions or the civil rights groups, saying it should be stopped as it was undermining the country.
