Nigerian youths seem to have a lesson or two to learn from Gustavo Petro, foremost presidency contender in Colombia, if really, they want a change from the status quo with Mr. Peter Obi.
Colombia may get its first leftist leader. A lambaster of the country’s inequality and elites, the 62-year-old Gustavo Petro may be propelled to office by the largest youth electorate in Colombia’s history.
A large and loud youth electorate hungry to transform one of Latin America’s most unequal societies could propel the former rebel to the presidency.
The early vote count in Sunday’s six-way presidential election in Colombia pointed toward a run-off in June, with the leftist former rebel leading the polls.
Colombians gave lead to a leftist presidential candidate for the first time in the country’s history in a country ruled for decades by the right.
Gustavo Petro surrounded by a screaming, sweating, fawning crowd seemed like an odd choice for a youth icon.
Gustavo is gray-haired, 62, and, in his speeches, he’s more roaring preacher than conversational TikTok star.
But after an improbable rise from clandestine rebel to Bogotá mayor and bullish face of the Colombian opposition, Mr. Petro could soon become the country’s first leftist president, a watershed moment for one of the most politically conservative societies in Latin America.
And his ascent has, in no small part, been propelled by the biggest, loudest and possibly angriest youth electorate in Colombia’s history, demanding the transformation of a country long cleaved by deep social and racial inequality.
There are now nearly nine million Colombian voters 28 or younger, the most in history, and a quarter of the electorate. They are restive, raised on promises of higher education and good jobs, disillusioned by current prospects, more digitally connected and arguably more empowered than any previous generation.
“Petro is change,” said Camila Riveros, 30, wrapped in a Colombian flag at a campaign event this month outside Bogotá, the capital. “People are tired of eating dirt.”
Gustavo Petro this month in Santa Marta. He has held a steady lead in most polls, though he may not have enough support to avoid a runoff.
As Colombians prepare to vote on Sunday, Mr. Petro has promised to overhaul the country’s capitalist economic model and vastly expand social programs.
He pledged to introduce guaranteed work with a basic income, shift the country to a publicly controlled health system and increase access to higher education, in part by raising taxes on the rich.
Mr. Petro had been ahead in the polls for months — though surveys suggest he will face a runoff in June — and his popularity reflects both leftist gains across Latin America and an anti-incumbent fervor that has intensified as the pandemic has battered the region.
Full details of Gustavos escapades at the Colombian political landscape can be read here.
Similarly in Nigeria, a horde of angry youths are yearning for Peter Obi, a namesake of Petro, to aggravate a much needed change.
Obi, it could be recalled, sanitized Anambra when he steered the State’s leadership for eight years bringing about such stunning change as never witnessed before.
His achievements were so remarkable that eight years after he left office, his records remained far flung from his competitors and contemporaries.
in 2022, Peter declared his intentions to replicate his Anambra magic at federal level, given a chance at the presidency in 2023 under the umbrella of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).
His soaring popularity sent jitters down the spine of his co-aspirants and the corrupt politicians that they conspired to frustrate his presidential ambition.
Obi, who always tries to see tomorrow like Nostradamus, quickly deciphered the handwriting on the wall and defected to Labour Party (LP) where he immediately won the presidential primary and emerged as the party’s flag bearer.
All are now left in the hands of the illusioned and battered Nigerian youths to replicate the Colombian magic with Peter Obi come 2023.
The world is watching…
(ELOMABAH)
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