Dr. Raymond Edoh is the Nigerian youth ambassador to the United States and the secretary-general, Nigerian Youth Congress (NYC). In this interview with TOPE SUNDAY, he says the youth will deny aspirants without a cut-clear political blueprint ticket, among other issues.
Congratulations on the success of the recent programme on Nigerian-Chinese herbal medicine awareness and sensitisation campaign/exhibition of herbal products, organised by the Nigerian Youth Congress (NYC) in collaboration with the Chinese embassy. Could you please tell us the secret behind it?
Thank you. I think, so far, the secret behind having a large number of people and/ or dignitaries at our programme has to do with our collaboration efforts. It has to do with our collaboration in the sense that every programme we’ve ever held nationwide, we didn’t just follow the programme for any personal reasons, but we try to hold all our programmes with the interest of the nation, and most especially, the youth.
Someone did ask this question before; he said why do you always have a lot of top government officials in your programme? Yes, in most of our programmes, we do have governors, ministers, and top government officials in attendance. And the reason is this; we try never to go to any of them for assistance to do any of our programmes. 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.
As the chief scribe of the NYC, most of your programmes are centred on the youth. Why is it so?
The portfolio I hold 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 youth. The reason we held the Nigerian-Chinese herbal medicine awareness and sensitisation campaign/exhibition of herbal products is that 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 in the streets. So, we are doing everything possible to get high numbers of Nigerians off the streets. We must continue to do this because the number of youths in the streets is higher than the numbers of the adults in the streets. And the risk of having a high number of youth in the street is high.
Ahead of the 2023 general elections, are the youth ready for leadership?
I think I would like to say it boldly, no youth, no elections in Nigeria. In Nigeria, we cover 70 to 75% of the total number of this nation. 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 votes that bring every other person into office. So, now this is the strategy; you know, we used to gallivant on this, but did not put it into action. By 2023, the show will 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 that for anybody who’s contesting any political office in Nigeria, we must have that person on the table. This is because we are the youth, and without us, you cannot win any election.
We must have you on the table. You will tell us your political agenda or your electoral promises and you will sign it and you must carry it out. This time around the game has changed. Any politician from the position of the president to the last must not just make promises to the people just to get their votes. We have changed that pattern. Whether you like it or not, any promise you’re making to us must be fulfilled. So, the time for promises not being fulfilled has gone.
Now, about two young Nigerians; one of them, the governor of Kogi state, Alhaji Yahaya Bello, has declared his interest to run for president. Will your organisation endorse any of them?
As I said earlier, politics is a game. And it’s a game that can be changed at every second or minute. The youth of Nigeria are ready to contest or compete with anybody for any political office. We are not saying that the adults should go or the older generation should go. 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.’ They’ve always said to us that they would collaborate with us and along the line, they changed the game. But this time around, there is no changing the game. It has to be ‘scratch my back, I scratch yours.’ Now, let me talk about some of the aspirants you mentioned earlier. For now, as I said to you, in Nigeria, the electoral laws say anybody can contest for any position. Anybody who wants to vie for any political position must stand for the youth and I repeat you must give us your electoral promises. If we are okay with you, if we are comfortable with you that you will deliver on those promises, we’ll go ahead and endorse you and vote for you and we will mobilise our members nationwide for you.
But if we find out 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.
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, a great number of people or persons and youth who have no money came into some 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 or not, to mobilise your immediate constituencies, your family, friends and 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 for them. You are the one killing yourself, nobody is killing you. 2023 is going to be a year of action for the youth; hold on to your PVC. I challenge everybody to vote for credible candidates of their choice.
You sounded so serious about the determination of the youth in 2023, but the same youth are used as tools for political violence during elections. 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. 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 PVC, cast your vote for the person you want in every political office. Don’t be deceived by anybody. This is a message for fraudulent politicians – the time of spending money and thinking that you will get the people’s votes is over.
In one of your interviews, you said you were eminently qualified to run for any political office. Will you take a shot at 2023?
I’m 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 it just has to do with the mind and the passion of 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 and you can win. For me, I’m yet to decide. And when I decide, I’ll still let the media know what I want to run for.
