A Letter To My Gen. Z Brethren

Dear Brethren,

I once entered a class and began what I termed a radical change or, better put, trying to do things in ways I considered appropriate. Then an older member of the class walked up to me and whispered, “please Sir, things are done differently here”.

This is a piece to my Gen Z brethren who must translate their knowledge of “organizational culture” to understanding what I call the “Nigerian political culture”. It is a culture of continuous cyclical movements where political Actors change sides according to the ease or dictate of the political time.

It follows the format of a typical social science dissertation except that our Politicians do not provide “Background to the Study”, they quickly move to “Statement of the problem”. Of course you know that “wahala no dey finish”. I look forward to the day we will revise this template and begin to ask them to give full details of the background to the problem they hope to solve.

Today, it is PDP. Tomorrow it is APC, then suddenly it is APGA before eventually Labour becomes the all in one “gbo gbo nise” drug that will cure all the Nigeriana problem. This is why the disappointments continue to heighten, because we expect so much from individuals without making efforts to build enabling systems. And where we build systems, they become mere SPVs for carrying out irritating vested interests.

In all, understand that politics is a contest of interests, where we all claim it is for the good of all!

— Mazi Ejimofor Opara writes from Awka, Anambra State. 

_Artwork by Chimamanda Mitchelle Ejimofor-Opara_