LET THE LEADERS OF TOMORROW BEWARE

I cannot exactly describe what my motivation was while I sat down to write this piece. Maybe it is anger or frustration or pity or...what else can it even be? All I can say is that my decision to write this warning to the young generation in Nigeria came from the 9pm news of the Nigerian Television Authority (NTA).
In the Nigerian context, who should be referred to as the leaders of tomorrow? If I am still living in a world of humans, I think it should be that section of the Nigerian population below the age of 45 years (maybe there is no age limit anyway, at least in Nigeria). I was watching the NTA network news last night and I saw Alhaji Tukur on the news, the National Chairman of the largest political party himself. It is clear from his physical appearance that he was born in those days when birth was being recorded on trees (those old men with no verifiable birthday!). He is older than my father, around the same age with my uncle who is about 15 years older than my father and yet, he is at the helm of affairs of the largest political party in Africa.
Alhaji made me think of elders his age that should have retired to the comforts of their sweet mansions but are still struggling to take the mantle of leadership in Nigeria. I remember the gap-toothed Major from Katsina State. That fair-skinned old man at more than six dozen years of existence is still battling seriously to become the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria (I think these people are protégés of Gnassingbe Eyadema of Togo...chop there, die there). How do you explain the fact that a man close to 80 years of age who had been President of this nation once is still struggling to get back to the corridor of power? Even in the Nigerian Civil Service, 60 years is the retirement age...or is it that ‘age of death’ is the retirement age for power-hungry people?
I also remember ‘baba omo keekeeke’, the ever-laughing Ila Orangun old man who is at the helm of affairs of the strongest opposition party in Nigeria (even though as a figurehead....we all know who calls the shots in that party). One would think at his age too, something very close to the age of my grandfather, he would have retired home to his people and serve in an advisory role to the younger generation of leaders but our old man is still loitering around in the corridor of power.
If Tukur is the PDP head, Akande is of ACN, Buhari is hustling for power, Wole Soyinka is still trying to stay in the limelight, Obasanjo is still a very prominent leader of a party, lecturers are hoping for a retirement age of 70 years, Civil Servants are using ridiculously reduced ages in service, the US Senate is filled with old men all very close to ‘God be with you till we meet again’, Pastors retire from one ministry only to go and start another ministry, Obas are hoping to reign on the throne for dozens of years and even beggars refuse to retire home at old age, when exactly will the leadership of the young ones commence? Will tomorrow ever come? Will a chance really be created for the young generation to thrive or would we have to wait till they all go to their creator?
The generation of young people in the world today needs to watch out, lest we like Esau, sell our birthright to these exhausted old men. They came, they have seen and some of them even conquered...what else do they want? As my people would say, ‘won fe je aye omo won mo aye’ meaning they want to use up all the treasures their children should use.
These old men still use us as thugs, bodyguards, under-paid staff etc in a bid to rubbish our future and use up what tomorrow have in stock for us. Let the leaders of tomorrow beware, in the world of today, it is destiny for sale.
Leaders of tomorrow , BEWARE!