Former Senate majority leader, Mohammed Ali Ndume, said that Peter Obi’s and the Labour Party’s outstanding performances in the February 25 and March 18 elections show that the majority of Nigerian youths are tired of the existing political structures.
He said that Obi’s performance greatly surprised the political elites, who own all the structures of persuasion, cohesion, and influence but was able to gather as many as six million votes.
A movement and campaign that many thought was a joke—”six people in a room tweeting,” as some politicians said—ended up driving a movement never before experienced.
Ndume said this while appearing as a guest on Channels Television’s Sunday Politics programme where he had the opportunity to talk about some of the post-election matters as they concern Nigeria.
“Yes, there were surprises in some places,” he said, responding to a question about whether he was happy with the outcome of the election.
“The South East surprised me; the performance of the Labour Party went beyond my expectations. I never thought Peter Obi could do that well,” he said.
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He explained that the more than six million votes Obi gathered really surprised him.
“I think the signs are out there that the middle income group, the social media groups, and the youths are getting tired of old politicians who have been in the corridors of power since their 30s,” he stressed to buttress his observation about how most Nigerians were tired of the current political structure.
He also said that being in the national legislature for more than 20 years hasn’t been as bad as many critics say because quality lawmaking depends largely on the years of experience of members of the national assembly.
“That’s why in the U.S. Senate the oldest senator has been there for 43 years,” he said, making reference to the state of the legislature in the U.S., where our bicameral legislative processes were adopted from. He also said that the current U.S. president, Joe Biden, was in the Senate for around 32 years, giving depth to what exists in the U.S.
However, he supported the clamor by young Nigerians for a youthful takeover of the executive arm of government because of the demanding nature of executing laws and providing exemplary leadership.
“You need the energy to execute,” he said.
Meanwhile, on the issue of conflicting opinions about the victory of Bola Ahmed Tinubu at the February 25 presidential election, Ndume said that Nigerians have spoken through their votes and won’t be cajoled into ethnic and religious trivialities, as being propagated by some greedy politicians.
“Nigerians have spoken; we are trying to hype up trivialities like religion and tribe, but an ordinary Nigerian doesn’t buy into that as that election result has shown that, ” he said.
He however agreed that the infusion of religion into our daily lives as Nigerians did play an important role in the victory of his candidate in the North East and some parts of the North West. “I can say that it did play a role in the North East and North West, but I will say that overall, our party, which had a Muslim-Muslim ticket, won in the South East, South South, and North Central,” he added.
