By John Nihi Oladele
November, 18, 2020
NYCN: When Silence is No Longer Golden.
The summary of my write up is embedded in two biblical admonitions. The first is 1 Corinthians 10:12 which says “Therefore let him who thinks he stands be careful that he doesn’t fall” and the second is Psalm 18:26 “with the pure you prove yourself pure, but with the crooked you prove yourself shrewd.”
Over the years of the lingering crisis in the apex Youth Body in Nigeria, National Youth Council of Nigeria (NYCN) we have seen people who thinks they or their camp has won and are standing firm fall because they were never CAREFUL as it’s written in the first biblical counsel. We have also seen many celebrated alignment and realignment crashed because one of the parties behaved crooked and the other party or parties as the case may be had to show himself/herself shrewd.
As someone who created the group ‘WE ARE BROTHERS’ that midwife the meeting and subsequent ‘stepping aside’ of the then famous Four (4) Factional Presidents of NYCN, I must say our intention were NOBLE which was to unite Council in the interest of millions of Nigerian Youths. Our resolution favoured Amb. Sukubo Sara-Igbe Sukubo as the unify President.
However, the peace we bargained for has continued to elude Council months after our stepping aside almost jeopardizing our sacrifices. The major hindrance to the UNITED COUNCIL we seek was largely the failed harmonisation of the factional BOTs. The two (2) biblical passages speaks volumes of what possibly happened.
The MAJOR problem of Youth Council is lack of sincerity among her stakeholders and followers alike. God Almighty admonishes us to be sincere to each other. This is evident in the following Quranic verse: “O believers, fear God, and be among those who are the truthful ones” (al-Tawbah 9:119).
Over the years particularly during our clamor for peace between the FACTIONAL Presidents and BOT, one of the things I found out didn’t bring ‘TOTAL PEACE’ is LACK OF SINCERITY and the sycophantic nature and ways some hailers, wailers and advisers alike dismissed some persons and group(s) saying “Don’t mind him, don’t mind her, dont mind them (group), they can’t do anything” but at the end of the day, those who were said to be incapable of doing anything are up till today drawing the Council backward. This goes to show and confirm the popular saying that, “never underestimate anyone”.
It is a known fact that on a scale of 100%, it is 90% difficult to build and 10% easier to destroy. One don’t need to be an architect to know this basics. Perhaps, reason its been very difficult to BUILD PEACE IN COUNCIL for a long while now
Many questions are today begging for answers and it is important to start the questions from the once I have definite responses to.
Can NYCN President be donated? NO, it was not donated we sacrificed. Why will Nihi, Shagari and Almustapha step down for Sukubo? Our individual reasons may be different but it was largely to UNITE Council. Were you guys truly given 10M or 5M? NO, we were not given such amounts of money, it was not about money that we stepped aside. Are you saying you are not yet compensated? YES, we have not and like I said, that’s not the basis of our stepping aside even though you will agree with me (if you disagree with me, na you sabi) that we deserve it. In fact, me am waiting for the compensation oooo.
There are many questions I do not have answers to but I’ve been asked. Now that you guys ‘so called’ sacrifice did not bring total peace to Council, what’s Next? Right now, I do not know but my personal opinion on what’s next, I cannot disclose in this article. What’s your opinion about CAC certificate and the BOT saga? My personal opinion doesn’t matter at the moment but it’s important that we chose our battle carefully and meditate on the two (2) biblical verses ESPECIALLY the first. Why not come and join us in Adodo’s camp? My response is a question, ‘will that unite Council or solve the current crisis?’ It is unwise to build a house and destroy it except the house collapse by itself, WHICH IS VERY POSSIBLE.
THE WAY FORWARD: I know there are battles especially in various courts, too many that even the litigants in the various cases might have lost count. As at today, I will be deceiving myself if I say this is the single way to peace in NYCN BUT, Yes, silence is no longer golden hence, it is important that we begin to ‘SORO SOKE’ – speak out.