Afrobeat musician wants us to join the resistance

In a lengthy Instagram post he shared on Sunday, November 5, 2017, he stated his belief in political resistance as the way forward. “This form of resistance is such that aims at resisting against all elements of political enslavement and underdevelopment which promotes confusion and deepens poverty amongst the Motherland masses which seize the opportunity of the movement to politically exploit our people both nationally and internationally.”

Later in his post, he also wrote: “in other words, if we see as a people do not see politics as our business and foremost interests, the resistance of our political class as our national duty, then we would never have the representation that we desire/want.”

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Seun Kuti has hit the nail on the head. We should not expect a change in our political system and leadership setup if all we do is protest and rage on Twitter.

Real change comes when we the youth of Nigeria are actively involved and engaged in the political process. This does not include ranting on social media and hashtags.

Don’t get me wrong. Social media is good for starring up a conversation that charges people to challenge the way things are but as we all know, if the narrative doesn't go beyond a post or 140 characters then nothing happens.

And when it does move beyond Twitter like the Occupy Nigeria protest in 2012, it ends up falling flat. Like Seun Kuti wrote in his post, protest doesn't do anything to the political cabal. We protest today and tomorrow we go back to our homes, adjusting to the new way of life.

What should be done is for young people all over the country to be actively involved in the political process. We need to hold our leaders accountable starting from our local government chairmen.

Politics starts from the grassroots. If we cannot be a part of the political process in our local government then nothing will change. We need to be involved from the ground up. Many of us are doing it reverse.

This political resistance movement requires a lifelong dedication to getting things right. In 2019, and we will be galvanized to vote. After the elections, we go back to our homes and grumble. No.

After the elections are when we should be vigilant and hold all political officers accountable. We should be on their necks to constantly do better and fulfil their campaign promises.

This is how we can be part of the resistance by being eternally vigilant and challenging corrupt and inept office holders.

Protest, marches and voting every four years can only do so little. We need to be involved every step of the way.