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From Charity Nwakaudu, Abuja
Dr Raymond Edoh is the Nigerian Youth Ambassador to the United States and the Secretary-General, Nigerian Youth Congress (NYC). He talks tough on the 2023 general elections, declaring that the youth will deny aspirants without a cut-clear political blueprint ticket, among other issues.
What is the secret behind the Nigerian Youth Congress (NYC) collaboration with the Chinese embassy?
The secret behind having a large number of persons and dignitaries at our programme has to do with our collaboration. This is because every programme we have ever held has to do with the interest of the nation. We don’t just follow the programme for any personal reason, but rather, we try to hold all our programmes with the interests of the nation, most especially, the youths.
And yes, someone had asked this question before, and he said, why do you always have a lot of top government officials in your programme?
We normally have top government officials in attendance because we try never to go to any of them for assistance, which makes them have respect for the group. We hold programmes strictly to define the future of the youth in Nigeria, and whether anybody is interested or not, we’ll continue to do it over and over again.
Also, as the General Secretary of the Nigerian Youth Congress (NYC), most of your programmes are centred on the youth including the recently held Nigerian-Chinese herbal medicine awareness and sensitization campaign/exhibition of herbal products. What is the rationale behind this?
If you observe the portfolio we hold or I hold, it has to do with the youth. So, it is defined that I’m a leader of the youth. They never said I’m a leader of the adult Nigerians, but just the youth. So, if I must take any step in Nigeria, that step must be 100% beneficial to only the youths. The reason why we held the Nigerian-Chinese herbal medicine awareness and sensitization campaign/exhibition of herbal products are because our view as youth will always be different from that of every other Nigerian. And our view is that we have a lot of Nigerians on the street. So we are doing everything possible to get high numbers of Nigerians off the street. We must continue to do this. Because if you observe, the number of youths on the street is higher than the number of adults on the streets in Nigeria. And the risk of having a high number of youths on the street is high. Because if you flashback to the answers, protests, you know and all yes, this whole protest was organised, everything was carried on and at the end of the day because of the high number of persons on the street, particularly, the youth, the protest was hijacked and at the end of the day, it became a very big disadvantage, even to the government also. So we’re doing everything possible at this point in time to curtail this.
Ahead of the 2023 general elections, are the youth ready for leadership?
I think I would like to say it boldly, and I’m saying it boldly in a capital letter. No youth, no election, no winning in Nigeria. In Nigeria, we cover 70 to 75% of the total number of this nation and even in the electoral cycle. Also, if you check the number of people who vote every official into office, you will still agree with me that we still have up to 70% of the vote that brings every other person into office. So, now this is the strategy, you know, we used to gallivant on this but not putting it into action, by 2023, the show is going to be a different thing entirely for the youth. Our strategy is mapped out already. And I would like to make it straight to Nigerians. We are not taking power from anybody. But I assure you, anybody who’s contesting any political office in Nigeria, number one, we must have you on the table. Because we are the youth, without us, you cannot win the election.
We must have you on the table. You will tell us your political agenda or your electoral promises. You give us your electoral promises, and you will sign it and you must carry it out. This time around the game has changed. Any politicians in Nigeria from the position of the President to the last, don’t make promises for people just to vote you into office. We have changed that pattern. Whether you like it or not, any promise you’re giving to us, a high percentage of that promise must be fulfilled, so, the time for promises not being fulfilled has gone. So if you must promise us what you’ll be doing for the people, then automatically, you should be ready for that.
Now, about two young Nigerians, one of them is the governor of Kogi State, Alhaji Yahaya Bello, have declared their interest to run for the office of the president. Will your organisation endorse any of the youthful aspirants?
As I said earlier, politics is a game. And it’s a game that can be changed at every second or every minute, I say to you that we, the youth of Nigeria, are ready to contest or compete with anybody in any political office in Nigeria. Secondly, we are not saying the adults should go or the older generation should go out of the office. No, they are fathers, if you look through my previous interviews; I’ve always said yes, we cannot do without them. And they too can’t do without us. So, as the popular saying says ‘scratch my back, I scratch your back’. So, this time around, they’ve always said to us that they are going to collaborate with us and along the line, they changed the game, but this time around, there is no changing game. It has to scratch my back, I scratch your back. If not, it is not going to work. But to some of the aspirants, you made mention of, you see, for now, as I say to you, I said, you know as in Nigeria, the electoral law says, anybody can contest for any position. Anybody who wants to vote for any political position in Nigeria, they stand for the youth and I repeat the stand of the youth, you must give us your electoral promises. If we are okay with you, if we are comfortable with you, that you will deliver those promises, we’ll go ahead and endorse you and vote for you and we will mobilise all our members nationwide.
But if we find out later that your promises are not credible and that you can’t put them into practice or into action for us, we will campaign against you and you will not get one vote from any youth in Nigeria.
Your reaction to President Buhari’s assent to the ‘Not Too Young To Run bill’?
The Not Too Young To Run is a very important statement made up by the president. I was part of the people who really applauded him for that statement he made and in addition to that statement, for the first time in Nigeria, that a high number of people or persons and youths who have no money, came into some few political offices under the administration of President Muhammadu Buhari. Now, there is a record there. And that is a hope for us that nobody is going to deprive us. We’re going to continue from there this time around. And I encourage every youth, every young person in Nigeria, whether you have money, you don’t have money, mobilise your immediate constituencies, your family, your friends, start from them.
We are selling, we are killing ourselves because a lot of people who are not credible for these positions will come and give money and you vote them so automatically. You are the one killing yourself, nobody is killing you. 2023 is going to be a year of action for the youths, hold on to your PVC. And I challenge everybody to vote for a credible candidate of their choice.
You sounded so serious about the determination of the youths come 2023, but the same youths are used as tools of political violence during the election. Is your organisation doing anything differently to re-orientate them?
Thank you so much for this question. You see, in our previous messages and programmes, we’ve always said it is a 100% youth programme. Now, today’s (recent) programme, if you observed something, I had all the chairmen of the 36 state chapters of Nigeria Youth Congress in attendance. You can see it is not the usual way of the programme, there was a change. And one of those changes is that I had all the state chairmen in attendance. And this is a message that we’re going to continue with. From now henceforth, in our various states, we’re going to be campaigning, and the campaign is that you must not sell your vote to anybody. So hold on to your PVCs, cast your vote to the right person you want in every political office. Don’t be deceived by anybody. So you can see now it is not just us, the leadership holding programmes in the national level here anymore but the state, the local government chapters even to the ward, who are going to carry out this campaign.
So every fraudulent politician in Nigeria, this is a message for you. The time of spending money and you think you get the vote of the people is over.
You are from Benue State, and as a youth leader with a large follower, in one of your interviews, you said, you are eminently qualified for any political office. Are you considering taking a shot at an elective position in 2023?
I’m qualified and I repeat it again, I am qualified. If it has to do with money, then Dangote should be the president of Nigeria, because he’s the wealthiest man in Nigeria. I think he just has to do with the mind and the passion for leading the people. If you find yourself fit, to govern your people, or to help or rescue your people, then you can vie for any position of authority you can contest and win. For me, I have yet to decide. And when I decide, I’ll still let the media know what I want to contest.
