Bobi Wine: A Template For New Nigeria By Araba Fatade Bamidele

Robert Kyagulanyi ( Bobi Wine) for years had his countrymen gyrating to the ragga beats from his music. In 2017, he changed lanes and instead started playing a kind of “music” never before heard in Uganda: populist idealism aimed at rejecting a despotic regime.

Whichever way the pendulum swung, the National Unity Platform which Bobi Wine leads has become a huge success by shaking up the very foundations of Ugandan politics.

The roads for Bobi Wine and his liberation efforts have always been rough. He and his team were constantly faced with unprecedented intimidation, repression tactics and outright murder from a highly vicious despotic regime that controls the security forces, judiciary and every other levers of government with a iron fist. Bobi was earlier dismissed as irrelevant by government and its supporters until he won a byelection as an independent candidate in 2017 and distinguished himself as a veritable opposition voice.

Demographically, Uganda is made up mostly of young people. Youths between the ages of 16 and 35 years make up about 70% of the total population with unemployment rate tapering above 70%. Bobi Wine’s political evangelism thus was an easy buy for the grossly frustrated population. He became the symbol of a new order and owing to his humble background, he got labelled by his people as the ghetto President.

Read: Decent for the Indecent, the Just for the Unjust, by Femi Adesina

The ongoing Ugandan experiment holds much promise for the rest of Africa sharing similar situations. Nigeria and Uganda share salient similarities. For far too long, Nigeria has had to bear the heavy burden of a soloist political class that loves to hold power despite having no single idea of what to positively do with it.

The quality of leadership in Nigeria is easily evidenced in the quality of life of Nigerians. Currently, youth unemployment tapers to 70%. A general sense of hopelessness and frustration has enveloped the nation. Expectedly, the calls for a generational shift has risen in crescendo.

Over the years, Nigerian population has always seen a generational shift in national governance as a form of mirage which must only be fantasised about in dreams. Bobi Wine of Uganda has however shown it to be a possibility.

Nigerian youths must indeed wake up to a staunch determination to change the public order. Needless to say that such movement would not be a walk in the park. The very influential old order would definitely not easily give way. Youths in Nigeria must turn their frustrations into a visible mobilization force. The youths must structure themselves and present a common purpose. With determination and focused mission, a foundation of a new Nigeria would be laid.

Just like the Bobi Wine experiment, a liberation march against established despotic regimes requires heavy sacrifice. It’s a battle of wits, blood and brim. Bobi has fired the salvo and the reverberations must be felt in a new awakening in Africa and especially Nigeria as we build up to 2023 elections. It has been conceived and it can indeed be done.

Araba Fatade Bamidele writes from Lagos State.