With a few weeks to 2023 general election, there is a glaring decline in the number of youths contesting in the poll, even as young contestants are faced with challenges of trust, intimidation, finance and fear of vote buying.

The Guardian gathered that of the 15,336 candidates on the ballot in the elections, 4,398 are youths, 1,899 of these are between 25 – 30 years.

There is a noticeable decline in the percentage from 34 in 2019 to 28.6 per cent in 2023.

For instance, in the House of Representatives, there is a fall from 27.4 per cent in 2019 to 21.6 per cent in 2023, while that of the State House of Assembly dropped from 41.8 per cent in 2019 to 35.6 per cent in 2023.

Apparently, political parties nominated more youth candidates for legislative elections at the state level than for executive or National Assembly seats.

For instance, State Assembly and House of Representatives elections recorded high levels of youth candidacy with 35.6 per cent for State Assembly, 21.6 per cent for House of Reps and only 3.7 per cent in the Senatorial elections.

Speaking with The Guardian, Adebonojo Ademola, who is aspiring for the House of Assembly seat in Abigi ward, Waterside Local Government, Ogun State, lamented non-acceptability by the people in his constituency, noting that it might not be unconnected with being young.

“First and major challenge I had was acceptance of my person. I stayed some miles away from my constituency and selling my candidacy has been a big challenge, I was seen as somebody who has come to take from them and run away.

“Because my family’s name or my person is not popular in the constituency, it raised a lot of questions about my intentions when I went out for consultations and campaigns.

“My age is also a big deal to the political gladiators. Selling myself and ideas to party leaders is like fetching water into a basket. Many of them are not comfortable relating with a young person,” he said.

Ademola, who is contesting on the platform of Accord Party, maintained that the challenges would have been minimal, if there were unlimited access to funds.

“All these challenges would have been easier if money was so much available. Finance is the father of all the challenges. Money would have been a tool to sell my candidacy to the constituents, and also, enhance my popularity during campaigns.

“They don’t believe I am serious about winning. Even the young people who are supposed to support me are against the cause, because many of them believe that I am over ambitious. They want to extort the little I have. The challenges are many and this is just a few. I have decided never to be discouraged and push harder
I believe I can change the narrative despite all odds.”

For Folarin Joseph, contesting for a seat in the House of Representatives, Mushin federal constituency 2, Lagos State under the Young Progressives Party (YPP), being a young candidate hasn’t been a smooth ride.

According to him, in some instances, his volunteers were disallowed from displaying banners until money was paid to some ‘people’ who also assured them of securing the banners from being pulled down or torn.

“It is a general belief in some areas that candidates must have a good sum of money before stepping forward to signify interest to contest for an elective position.

“Moving around the Constituency comes at a cost, especially while engaging the electorate. Donations after each engagement are the norm.

“Some even come up with demands via calls and messages seeking financial support for immediate needs that demand urgent intervention.”

He maintained that finance has been a challenge, and has slowed down his campaign, especially at the ward level.

“But on the positive side, there is still time to recover and build up momentum as the election draws closer.

“As campaigns intensify, I do my best to remind the electorate that voting is not only their right, but also our responsibility as citizens to elect candidates who will be accountable and will serve the collective interest of the people.

“I believe sustained sensitisation drives mass education of citizens rights and responsibilities and electing accountable and effective leadership who will deliver on campaign promises is crucial.”

Also, Ishola Rauf Shina, who is contesting for a seat in the Lagos State House of Assembly on the African Action Congress (AAC), lamented that the election has been monetised by the older generation, thereby, making it difficult for the younger ones to make headway.

“People who are supposed to be our supporters are always asking us for money. I classify this as a systemic vote buying. Elections have been monetised by the older generations,” he said.

The AAC Candidate alleged that some people are out there to make it difficult for young candidates, which has slowed down their level of mobilisation towards the coming elections.

“Oftentimes, state machinery stops our people from delivering our goodwill messages to the people in my constituency.”

He urged the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to ensure the era of money politics is brought to an end. “Every candidate must be monitored. A certain amount should be fixed to spend during the election. I believe this will ensure a credible election for all candidates,” Shina said.

He also lamented that some people working for the ruling party have been limiting their campaign and visibility.

“They stop us from posting our posters and banners. They threaten us and force people from sharing our flyers. This ought not to be, this is clear intimidation and oppression.

“Notwithstanding, we shall not be discouraged with their actions. The country belongs to all of us and we are ready to give Nigeria back to Nigerians.”

Also, contesting for the House of Representatives, on the platform of the New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP), Israel Oladipupo, identified finance as one of the challenges confronting him in the build up to the election.

“Raising funds has been challenging, due to my age. I run with funds I self raised and get some from a close circle of friends.

“Though there are campaign teams, as well as independent volunteer groups that are working, logistics have been a challenge.

He also identified lack of trust between elected officials and the electorate, as obstacles for fresh candidates like himself. He said, “Voters clearly do not trust aspiring officers like myself; nobody cares about the bills that will make their lives better at the end of the day. Majority of the electorate would rather get some money from you leading to the elections before you get into office as they consider that you won’t be accessible after you win the election.”

He said there is a need to decentralise governance and make it unattractive at the centre, “so, it is about service and not about how to amass wealth and riches quickly for a lot of people.”

For Buraimoh Folajimi, who is contesting to represent Ifako-Ijaye, Lagos in the House of Representatives on the platform of Young People Party (YPP), he was accused of being too ambitious, with people telling him to start from councillor or council chairmanship position.

“There is also the challenge of getting the right set of people within the constituency who are ready to take advantage of one especially given the economic situation of the country.

“There is hunger in town, so, everybody is looking for the next target, especially when they know you are in politics.”

He urged the government to put up policies that would support and encourage young people into governance and leadership positions.

Executive Director, Yiaga Africa, Samson Itodo, attributed the decline in youth candidacy to excessive cost of nomination forms, highly commercialised party primaries, substitution of candidates, and the deregistration of political parties.

He maintained that the “highly monetised” party primaries shrank the political space and limited fair competition, saying most young aspirants declined to pursue their political aspirations due to non-affordability of the forms and lack of resources to procure delegates.

“Some youth candidates were substituted after the party primaries to pacify entrenched political interests in political parties. In addition, deregistration of political parties by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) directly affected the number of political parties, which reduced the number of candidates on the ballot. This reinforces the direct relationship between the number of parties and youth candidacy.

“The current funding model of political financing creates unfair competition and shrinks the political space to the detriment of competent leaders, youth, and women. Political finance reform is an urgent necessity to ensure the political space is accessible to all persons regardless of age, economic class, tribe, and creed.”

He said any meaningful reform of party funding or campaign funding should deliver the following four key outcomes; first, limit the influx of unregulated money in the political process; secondly, enhance the capacity of political parties on resource mobilisation and maintenance of proper account of financial transactions and assets register; thirdly, strengthen INEC’s capacity to monitor and ensure compliance with political finance regulations and; fourth explore new pathways of candidate selection that de-emphasises the place of money and economic power over competence, capacity and character. The net effect of these outcomes will be improved safeguards for the political space, party supremacy, and candidate recruitment.

He said that public perception of youth leadership affects the emergence of youth candidates in elections, noting that young people are perceived as inexperienced and ill prepared for public leadership, hence, the limits placed on youth participation in politics.

To secure electoral victory for youth candidates, Itodo urged political parties to provide technical, financial and logistics support to young male and female candidates during the campaigns.

“Youth candidates will require technical support to hone political organising skills, and improve knowledge of Election Day operations, and legal framework for elections.

“The general public are encouraged to support youth candidates by making financial donations to youth candidates with competence, character and capacity.

“Media organisations should prioritise coverage of youth candidates. Adequate airtime should be provided to young male and female candidates to provide visibility for youth candidates and improve public perception of youth candidates.

“To advance political inclusion and accountability in elections, Nigeria requires comprehensive political finance reform and reforms of the delegate recruitment and management process,” he stated.
Meanwhile, Yiaga’s Director of Programmes, Cynthia Mbamalu, has charged young candidates in the 2023 elections to leverage accurate data in developing an effective campaign that promotes transformative leadership.

Speaking in Sokoto, during a political organising lab for young candidates running for offices in Sokoto, Zamfara and Kebbi states, Mbamalu said while the northwest region provides for 28 per cent of youth candidates in the country, Sokoto has 137 young candidates running for state assemblies.

According to her, Nigeria’s democracy needs to have people represented saying, if young people are the majority of Nigeria’s population, then younger people should be in office.

“The goal of political organising is to be more practical in discussing effective campaigns, identifying capacities you need to build communication strategies that can help you communicate with your constituencies.”

She also advised young people to use accurate data to run their campaigns by identifying the number of local governments, polling units, registered voters in their constituents and every other information needed to win elections.

“The lab is also an opportunity to develop strategies to build campaigns that promote transformative leadership to show that young people have the competence, capacity and the character to provide the leadership that the people desire.”

The Lab also profiled the story of young people that won elections and also looked at how to support young people to run and win elections, because the 2023 elections ought to be elections for the youth.

“We want young people to be familiar with election day operations and procedure from opening of polls, closing and result transmission and strategic ways to work with your campaign teams and party agents,” she said

Also speaking, Professor of Political Science at the Usman Danfodio University, Prof Suleiman Kuna, decried the challenges young people face in politics while urging them to unite together to achieve their purpose.

During his interaction with young candidates on the dynamics of youth participation, Prof Kuna admitted that democracy and elections require huge financial investment, saying this has impacted on youth participation.

“The youth must unite together and confront these challenges irrespective of political party affiliation,” Kuna said. This, according to him, requires youth to put in hard work, resilience and perseverance to confront challenges.

While re-echoing the rigorous competition young people must battle in the current order, Special Adviser to Sokoto State Governor on Youth Matters, Nuradeen Harande Mahe, said the Lab is timely to boost young peoples’ emergence into public offices.

He expressed optimism that 2023 would be better in terms of youth inclusion in politics, saying, “young people should be part of decision making in both legislative and executive positions.”

Nuradeen advised young people not to relent in their effort and continue to campaign vigorously by calling their fellow youths to support them, saying young people are the majority of the voters in Nigeria. “Come up with an enticing agenda that will help to solve challenges of young people in your constituency,” he said.

He also urged them to remain honest and stay true to their promises before and after winning elections. “Young people need to prove to Nigerians that politicians can be trusted,” he said.