It’s 28 years since the annulment of June 12,1993 presidential election won by business mogul, Moshood Kashimawo Olawale, MKO, Abiola but the spirit of the struggle is alive, as Kola Abiola, son of the democracy martyr, yesterday in Abuja launched an app to re-engineer leadership selection process in the country.
Ahead of the 2023 general elections, Kola is bent on walking the whole distance to ensure that the evils of 1993 do not rear their ugly heads in the nation’s polity again.
This was Kola’s submission at the Shehu Musa Yar’ Adua Centre, Abuja, as youths, activists and civil society organizations gathered to pay homage to a man whose supreme sacrifice succeeded in chasing the military back to their barracks.
Welcoming guests to the event put together by the Advocacy for One Nigeria Initiative, Kola decried what he called the sorry state of affairs in Nigeria, fuelled by its faulty recruitment process, which in his words, has lingered on for years.
Speaking on the theme: ‘’This thing called democracy,” Kola saluted the memories of Abiola, his business and political associate, General Musa Yar’ Adua, lamenting that their dream for one indivisible Nigeria was still being pursued decades after their demise.
He said: “Today is an emotional day for me. I want to give honour to my late dad, Chief M.K.O. Abiola, GCFR, Gen. Yar’Adua, GCON and many more that have passed on in the name of democracy.
“I have travelled all over Nigeria since 1978. I have been to every corner of Nigeria, either by road or by air, and I see everywhere as home. I walk everywhere and I am safe. So why do we want to see this end?”
Kola on the occasion, launched an awareness application, Tribe Naija, a mobilization tool aimed at rallying young Nigerians on the imperative of getting their choice of the President and other elective office holders right in 2023 and beyond.
Available on Google play store and IOS windows, the well designed app may as well redefine the outcome of the next election, given its interactive attributes and content mileage.
On the rationale for the development of the app, eldest son of Abiola, Kola said: “I think what I am trying to do has started. We are a group that need to think outside the box.
“When I say we have to think out of the box, we are still thinking along with the same political structure we inherited since independence. This has to change.
“What we have is a system that throws up two candidates, not of our choice. Then we get to pick the best of the worst.
“What I am hoping we will do with this platform is to mobilize a lot of us to disrupt the process. It is all about disrupting this (old) process.
“What do I mean to disrupt something? We are in the age of disruption; we have to put that to use for the betterment of this country.
“Can we imagine what bringing 51 per cent (youth voting population) together on this platform can do? Can you imagine having 51 per cent of the voting population on a platform? All you need to do is to use that platform to begin to get organically grown leadership on that platform.
“We have the thumbs up and thumbs down. We have an algorithm that allows you to identify participation and quality of content. These are the crop of people that we need to raise now.
“Let us not make a mistake about the system. There is no system. We have inherited a system and is time we turn that system on its head. The system just throws up what they want us to have and we have to pick from what they throw up for us to vote for.
-Vangauard
