Growing up, I used to love politics.
When you have a guerrilla journalist as a father, you really don't have a choice!
But over the years, seeing as the country has continued to dwindle and our leaders recycled, I have, sort of, lost hope in the state of the nation.
The 2015 general elections brought back a slither of hope for me as APC was riding on "change" and for a minute there, I thought we were getting it right till we just weren't.
Now we have another chance!
The 2019 general elections are coming up and I'm beginning to see that slither of hope coming forth. Not just in my mind but from other young Nigerians like myself, most especially from initiatives like "Not Too Young To Run" and "67 Million" and notable youngsters like Banky W and Falz.
Falz, most especially, started a show, "On The Couch" recently where he and his co-host, Laila Johnson Salami (I'm in awe of this lady by the way), interview presidential aspirants on their views, plans and ideologies.
At first I thought It'll be just another show till I actually watched Episode 1 and felt like we really, do, need this. We really need to air out the aspirants and see where their heads are at before we make a decision. We can't vote off of what their PR teams feed us. We have to be able to pick at their brains and minds and that's what this show does. It may not be perfect, but it does the job.
Watching Fela Durotoye's interview was a bit irky for me because somehow I thought he'd do better but watching the Olasubomi Okeowo interview murdered it for me. Where Fela Durotoye fell short, Olasubomi Okeowo dug himself 6 feet under a 6 feet deep hole in the ground. He was so incoherent and clueless.
Olasubomi Okeowo has since dropped out of the race and somehow I have hope that with initiatives like this, we can definitely make a difference in Nigeria. If one show can get an aspirant to drop out, what will the power of all the other initiatives do?
"On The Couch" has spurred an excitement in me that I haven't seen in quite a while and now I'm energised to go register for a voter's card because like Banky W put it, "Even if you don't yet know who you want to vote for, even if none of the candidates are quite measuring up to power ... no problem, but your vote is your voice. You don't give your voice up because you're not yet sure what you want to say".
I hope you've registered to vote and if you haven't, please join me in this last minute effort to do so!
Lots of love!!!
-Pookie!!
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