Ahead of the climactic 2023 elections which many have described as the most important to the continued survival or otherwise of Nigeria as a developing country, a lot of drama has taken place within the different political parties. But, as it relates to the chances of presidential candidates at polls, the defections of key members of Labour Party might be too serious an issue to ignore especially given the level of resounding support the opposition party has gathered from the Nigerian youth.
There is no denying the fact that huge swaths of Nigerian youths have aligned with the candidacy of the former Anambra State governor, Peter Obi, for the presidential election. This seemingly spectacular wave didn’t start because Obi was/is a political saint; it’s because this demography seems to have had enough of the blows from Nigeria’s established political parties, which many thought had failed to change the fortunes of the country over time.
Put more lucidly, the events in the past few years, starting from the events that culminated in the #EndSARS protest, to the ongoing fuel and naira crisis which has rendered vulnerable Nigerians devastated, have shown that most Nigerian youths, however unprepared, desire a change of government. This development ultimately propelled Obi to his current stardom, unarguably due to his seemingly frugal politics and identification with the everyday realities of common Nigerians.
