Arise O Compatriots, Nigeria’s Call Obey

These words from our national anthem are sung daily by children of this country every morning. Sung at times with passion and with the loudest of voices, but at times with the lowest of tones, a frown on the face and hastiness, just so one can get out of the scorching sun on the school assembly and get the day started, ending with a recitation of the pledge.

Arise O Compatriots, Nigeria’s Call Obey

These words, these phrases from our national anthem were sung by the youths of this country, far away from any school assembly or from any scorching sun, with passion in their hearts and an expectation for the 5 for 5 demands that grew daily. But it had a different ending. Soldiers marched on the ground, blocked the entries and the exits with cars so that ambulances that could have helped the victims they intended to shoot would not have access. Then they opened fire on innocent citizens who were singing the national anthem and raising the national flag – just for demanding the right to live without being killed, just for demanding the right to live without being harassed and extorted by those who were employed to protect them. They were shot just for taking the words of our constitution seriously when it guaranteed the right to life, the right to freedom of assembly and the right to protest.

I said after the incident that the government had a duty to build trust with the people and inspire hope through action. For without trust, a government has no legitimacy and without hope, there is no future and no tomorrow and this is why the majority of our young competent people are voting with their feet most of whom are our innovators and engineers. By a large margin, the topmost debate within the tech ecosystem for the last couple of years has been the talent gap debate. Where do we find the engineers that will build the future? What should we pay for the talent that will give life to our innovation? How many projects should a tech talent be taking on at the same time? This gap, this huge gap in talent development for an industry that has taken off almost on its own, is compounded with police brutality week in week out.

A young man who drives a good car, works in a tech company and uses a Macbook is an endangered species in our country. If he wears dreads or leather, he is a gonner.

The tech CEOs who don’t get harassed by police, get harassed by suddenly announced policies that eat away at investor funds or business models. One policy after another, there seems to be an intention to clamp down on the progress being made in the digital economy by policymakers. There is not one voice in the national assembly who will keep raising the conversation about how we lose on a daily basis our brightest.

I said at the time of the CBN’s account freeze of wealth-tech companies that “the economic fundamentals of our nation today make it attractive for the economic managers of our country to come after innovators and disruptors instead of supporting the ecosystem as we build a new and better future”. But yet, the tech ecosystem continues to grow with little to no significant intervention by those who should build the future.

THIS IS WHY I AM ANNOUNCING MY CANDIDACY FOR A SEAT AS A MEMBER OF THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES IN THE 2023 GENERAL ELECTIONS TO REPRESENT THE GREATEST PEOPLE OF IJESHA SOUTH FEDERAL CONSTITUENCY. I am running to be a voice for young people, a voice for young people in the tech ecosystem, a voice for young people in the creative industry, a voice for young people in the civic space demanding sound policies, good governance and a commitment to strong democratic tenets.

I need your support to clinch the ticket of my party, The PDP. If you believe that we owe it a duty to those who lost their lives on 20/10/2020 to continue on this journey, if you believe that standing on a voting line or sending a donation to a campaign is much much easier than facing brutal soldiers and trigger happy policemen, if you believe that the courage of those who arose as compatriots and obeyed Nigeria’s call, should inspire our generation to do even the minimum, then i urge you to go the next step and give me your support in every way you can. And then we will win the primaries, and then we will win the general elections and I will be an unquenchable voice speaking for the shared aspirations of our generation in the green chambers.

God bless you and God bless Nigeria.