Nigerians have used protests and marches to make indelible marks over the years. With the #BringBackOurGirls Movement, 110 out of the 219 #ChibokGirls that remained in captivity (57 of the 276 escaped immediately after captivity) are back. After the End Sars Protest, a Judicial Panel of Inquiry was set up across Nigeria where people told their human rights violation stories; some got justice while some got compensated by the government. The most important thing is that Nigerian youth got their minds back with the Endsars Protest. They became mentally emancipated. Nigerian youths are now eager to participate in the political process. In the words of Steve Biko, the greatest weapon of the oppressors is the mind of the oppressed. When you have a hold over the minds of the oppressed, you can do anything to them, and they would even justify what you are doing to them. In 2018, when myself, Dr Oby Ezekwesili, Florence Ozor, Maureen Kabrick and others travelled around the country for the #RedCard Movement, many people said we were wasting our time. However, today, we see what is happening; many people have realized that the power indeed belongs to the people, and the people can make a difference.

There will always be protests, and whoever becomes President by May 29, 2023, better do the right thing or else we will be on the streets. Protests happen when government don’t listen. So the first thing the government is supposed to do is listen to the people and work to address the issue. In public policy making, agenda setting is the first thing, and protest is a way of setting that agenda. According to Albert Einstein, insanity is doing the same thing over again and expecting a different result. People are no longer going to the streets to protest because it would be insanity for anyone who has seen how incompetent, uncaring and nonchalant the present administration is to continue to channel energy toward such a government. So right now, it’s all about political activism. You are either running for office because you are capable and competent; or you are campaigning for those who are running for office; or you are helping them to raise funds, or you are making demands and scrutinizing them before and after they get into office. So it is not that protest is something that has been done away with. However, at this moment, it is better to focus all the energy on ensuring that the next government should be one with competent people who have the capacity, people who are passionate about the country, and people who have empathy. These people are expected to do the right thing. So that’s why that energy is being channelled that way now.

At the presidential level, I see that transformational leadership in the person of Peter Obi, and at other levels, I am still looking at candidates. For me, it is not about parties but candidates. Most political parties in Nigeria do not endorse credible candidates because they are not incentivised to give competent candidates their party tickets. They always give us the ones they can control, which has not been good for us. As citizens, we are working to ensure that we vote, scrutinise and check candidates for political seats. Citizens must be vigilant; vigilance is the price we have to pay for democracy. We must ensure that our electoral process birth government for the people, not the government for certain Nigerians. It is time for whoever is coming in to know that they will serve the people, and if they are not ready to serve the people, they should stay out of politics. We must not forget the demand side of governance, which is what people forget; they focus on the supply side, so citizens must continue to make demands, and our elected officials must continue to supply good governance to us.

The impact of social media in the democratisation of media cannot be overemphasised. When I was a young girl, we depended on the 7 am and 9pm news to hear what the government had to tell us, with little or no means to communicate our thoughts to the government. But right now, it’s not just the government, citizens have the opportunity to be able to talk about the issues and put out their agenda through social media. Nigeria youths are intelligent and creative. They have social media and technology at their disposal, and they are using it to mobilise people, not just in Nigeria but worldwide.

The biggest lie that was sold to Nigerians was that votes don’t count. I will always say that if votes don’t count, why do politicians buy votes? Citizens have realised that, indeed, votes count and then the next question is about structure. Who are the structures? The people are the structures, and so when you have something like #5For5 votes, I talk to five people, and those five people talk to other five people about the candidate. People are taking ownership of the structure which is why you see them all over the country doing different amazing things.

In sane countries, candidates are not the ones who fund their campaign; it is the people who do that with a bit of money, N1000 here, N100 there etc. In Nigeria, people who have stolen our collective wealth are the ones perpetuating themselves or their stooges in office to do their bidding. As citizens, we must put our money where our votes are; we have to bring out that N1, that N100, that N1000, N10,000 whatever it is that we have, and let us pool it together for our candidates so that we will be able match the structure, politicians talk about. Structure to these politicians mean money. We want people who are incorruptible, those who have served and have not stolen wealth, and those who have served diligently to be able to come and run for office.

The 2023 election is an election for survival. We are fighting for our lives. We want a nation where we can breathe. Today, life in Nigeria is nasty, short and brutish. Everybody is a victim waiting to happen.

Even when you are inside your house, you do not know whether you will see the following day or somebody is coming to carry you from your home. This is not a time to shy away or think politics is not for anyone. Politics is for everyone. The political process produces those who make decisions that affect our lives.

For some of us of the older generation, we knew what military rule was all about. So we do not take the democracy we have for granted. My first child was born in 1999; hence just like other Nigerian youth, he knows nothing about the miitary and takes democracy for granted. Many Nigerian youth have not realized the importance of politics or governance in our lives. They didn’t get the heinousness of the government and how the Nigerian government can be so brutal. The End Sars Protest woke them up, and they are now invested, unlike before when they were not bothered about politics.

The legislative arm of government is the bedrock of democracy. And we must never look away from that. We must focus on it and ensure to vote for the most competent candidates so that we are not getting a rubber stamp assembly. The easiest way to get restructuring is through the legislative arm. Even if the President is not interested in that, the legislative arm of government is more powerful than the executive arm. They make laws, have oversight functions, and can override the President’s assent using their 2/3rd majority.

The Presidential election is like an eight-year journey that must be taken seriously. Today, we have an incumbent party with a self-absorbed President who is almost unconcerned about his party. We must take advantage of the situation.

What we have in Nigeria today is an awakening. The prevalent suffering of the last seven years has gotten Nigerians to realize that there is a relationship between governance and their lives. Citizens now know that religion or tribe is not a determinant of good governance. Katsina State is worst-off even though the President and Commander-in-Chief is from Katsina. With the increased suffering on the part of the people and the surge in the awareness and emancipation of Nigerian youth, the 2023 election will definitely be interesting. We must commend President Muhammadu Buhari for signing the 2022 electoral amendment into law, because the law has revitalized our electoral process and reinstated confidence in our elections. There is an assurance that our votes will count with the new technology.

Since 1999, poverty and illiteracy have been weaponized. Politicians sell a lie to people that votes don’t count so literates stay out of the electoral process giving room for uneducated and unenlightened people whom politicians easily buy their votes to participate in the electoral process.

Another beautiful fact about the 2023 election is that it is not the usual show for only two political parties. Attention is given to political parties and candidates outside APC and PDP. We are where we are today because candidates who get into office feel that it is not the people that brought them into power because elections were merely for endorsement. Hence, their loyalty is to the people who give them the party tickets.

Every Nigerian must be invested in the eight months leading to the 2023 general elections. We must put in everything to ensure that we vote for competent candidates who will know that they only got there because of the people and are more willing to work for the people.

The momentum you see with youths right now is nothing compared to what we will be bringing in the coming days. We are not started yet; we are still chilling; we have not even gotten to that place. The momentum will be sustained because of the suffering that we are going through, the insecurity that is happening to us. Every Nigerian is a victim waiting to happen; it is turn by turn Nigeria Ltd, you don’t know who is going to be the next victim.

When Adam Ismail, called for the #EndSars protest in Kano on the 7th of October, 2020, only his friend showed up. He was so downcasted and I encouraged him to keep going. On the 19th of October 2020, he called for the same protests, and hundreds came out and I might say even thousands but let me just put it at hundreds came out. What did they see? They saw the momentum and so as Nigerians see more and more people invested in this election. They will join and at the end of the day, we will get to that country where the child of nobody can become somebody without knowing anybody. We are tired of the children of who is who, who have some famous names getting into position even when they are not supposed to be there. We want a situation whereby there is level playing ground for everybody.

Let public education be accessible to everybody because the greatest injustice we have in Nigeria today is that access to good quality education is dependent on the economic status of one’s family. And that should be a crime.