Fela Durotoye, Omoyele Sowore and the likes ahead of the 2019 general elections: a move too soon?
The 2019 general election is just a matter of months now, candidates are beginning to declare their intents and it’s no news that the younger generations have also come out to make their intentions known. I must salute the courage of Fela Durotoye, Omoyele Sowore and others who have declared their intentions ahead of the elections. In a country that has been dominated or ruled by the old folks for years, it’s great to see young men come out to take charge of the country, in as much as their intents looks like a hope for the yputh we must not be too jubilant, not to see the great task ahead of these young men and the challenges ahead which might mar their success.
This is not an attack on the personalities of these young men neither is it a paid for article, this is just an opinion of a well meaning Nigerian, o call the attention of these youthful and enterprising mind to the biggest challenge they are about to face in their bid to revive the country and create history. Many might argue that the likes of Sowore, Durotoye coming out to declare their intent centers on the not too young to run campaign, but left for me, I have an opposed view to this. Heres an excerpt from my earlier write-up titled “not too young to run – putting an old win in a new glass”
One testimony to this is that Nigeria is believed to operate a multi party system but in actual sense, the country operates a two party system. A confirmation to this is that the two major parties which is the all progressive congress (APC)and the people’s democratic party (PDP) currently holds 90% of governorship seats in the country.
This is where the not too young to run bill comes into play, imagine a 35 year old man, who decides to run for the post of president in the 2019 elections under the flagship of any of the two major parties and he is told there is someone who is a bit older and more experienced than him who is also vying for the same post. After much persuasion, if he decides to leave about not getting a chance and goes to the other party, only to see that it’s the same everywhere. After much deliberation with his not too young to run crew, they decides to setup a new party and there is a constitutional procedure which must be followed which is (according to http://lawpadi.com/register-political-party-nigeria/)
STAGE 1 – GET ORGANISED
You need a name, logo, and acronym of the proposed party (it must not be similar to any known registered political party, or have any religious, ethnic, or sectional connotation), therefore you can’t register a party like Christian Democrats or Muslim Republicans.
You need to have a Chairman, a Secretary, National and State Executive Committee members – all officers must have been validly elected as you will need to provide INEC with the record of proceedings of the elections
You need to have a draft Constitution, draft Code of Conduct and Manifesto. The Constitution should have provisions that deal with things like how elections are conducted, the administrative structure of the proposed party etc.)
Your draft Constitution must also reflect the Federal Character principle of the 1999 Constitution i.e. all leadership posts must reflect the Federal nature of Nigeria and should be representative of the various federating units of Nigeria.
The Headquarters must be located in the Federal Capital Territory – Abuja, and the proposed party must be present in at least 24 states.
STAGE 2 – SUBMISSION AT INEC
You must pay a non-refundable fee of N1,000,000 (One Million Naira)
Obtain the appropriate form- FORM PAI
Within 30 working days, the proposed party must submit 50 copies of the completed form and 50 copies of the draft constitution and manifesto of the proposed political party along with all other required information
Submit the documents with the names, signatures and residential addresses of the Chairman and Secretary of the proposed political party
If all the supporting documentation is not submitted within 30 working days, INEC will terminate the application for registration, and the proposed political party will have to pay a fresh administrative fee of N1,000,000 (One Million Naira)
STAGE 3 – POST-SUBMISSION
INEC will verify all the claims in the document for conformity with the Guidelines
If INEC is satisfied that all the requirements have been met, the party will be registered, and a Certificate of Registration will be issued.
If all the requirements have not been met, INEC will notify the political party of the reason for refusal
The proposed political party may attempt to rectify any defect in the application within the 30-day period, without having to pay a fresh administrative fee of N1,000,000 (One Million Naira)
The above is just a brief summary of the process, if you do indeed one to set up a political party, you should not proceed solely on the basis of the information in this article. Setting up a political party is a massive Endeavour and you will need to get proper experienced advice on the process.

And recently, president Muhammad Buhari declared his intent to run again for a second term in office under the all progressive congress (APC) while the leading opposition party are being rumored to have an anointed candidate who will challenge the ruling party in its bid to reclaim its position as the ruling party and thus, this makes it difficult for the likes of Sowore to get a chance in one of the ruling party.

This is the Nigerian age structure according to CIA World factbook and indexmundi.com

Age structure: 0-14 years: 42.54% (children)
15-24 years: 19.61% (early working age)
25-54 years: 30.74% (prime working age)
55-64 years: 3.97% (mature working age)
65 years and above: 3.13% (elderly)
Analyzing the Nigeria age structure, one would see that the age group with the highest percentage is the children age and ironically they are not eligible to vote, and that leaves us with 57.46%. due to the present economic situation of Nigeria coupled with the health issues, there’s huge possibility that people from 55 years and above are unlikely to vote and when we take out these percentage, we are left struggling with barely 50% of our population. I remember an event that happened amongst my neighbors during the last local council development area (LCDA) in Lagos state, where my neighbors made this statement publicly that “they would vote anyone who is willing to pay them N5, 000 naira when they get to the polling booth, since they knew that everyone is going there for his/her own pocket, so why would they waste their vote without money?” funny enough, they fall into the category of the prime working age group .this incident has left some unanswered questions which I rightly know that if the best and not the perfect answers can’t be gotten ahead of the 2019 general elections, then the likes of Sowore, Durotoye coming out might be a joke or a move too soon.
How do you (Sowore, Durotoye, and others) convince the market men/women at Iyana-iba, Oyingbo, Balogun and the likes that you are different from the sets of leaders we have had and they should vote for you?
How do you convince the youth that voting for you is better than the N5,000 or more they will get at the polling booth?
How do you intend to stand the financial muzzle of the two biggest parties in Nigeria since its obvious that you are coming from a supposedly humble background and without a “Godfather”?
There are many questions which would come in as the election processes draws nearer, but without the right and convincing answers to the aforementioned questions, hopes of having a young president come 2019 might be dashed and it may result to a move to soon for the youth.

Okerinde Timothy Ayobami is a 300l student from the department of broadcast, Lagos state university, school of communication.