THE OMO OLOORE STORIES
STORY 6:YOUR DREAM IS VALID – GO FOR IT!
I was privileged to have joined politics very early – 1998 while I was studying Electrical/Electronics Engineering at the Polytechnic of Ibadan, Eruwa Campus; but I didn’t make any attempt to run for office until 2009, four years after I had graduated from the University of Ibadan with a degree in Agricultural and Environmental Engineering. When I chose to run, I ran for a seat at the House of Representatives.
At that time, loads of people criticized me for my decision. Some opined that a position like that was for the elders and not for young people.
Others felt I was over-ambitious for a young person – they recommended that I should start from a small position like councillorship or Local Government Chairman.
Unfortunately, a large chunk of the people discouraging me at that time were members of my generation.
I was convinced that I had something to offer if I got into the office and so I never listened to them. Besides, the people who were in the office were only humans too; they didn’t have two heads.
The elections were conducted in 2011 and I lost. Losing that election became an eye-opener for me; I learnt from that electoral exercise that I lost from within my own party (ACN). Once word got out that I had lost, the people who had warned me came out of the woodwork to remind me that they’d told me I couldn’t win.
I was announced as Commissioner and these people came back again. They felt that I was too young to be a commissioner and knowing that they got their eyes on me, expecting me to underperform, kept me on my toes. I knew I had to perform - it was the only option I had. I held two offices as commissioner and then I resigned to run for the same office I lost in 2011.
Once again, I began to receive messages/calls telling me to drop the ambition because I wouldn’t win but unfortunately for them In 2015, I won and every one of them fell silent.
I am telling this story for as many young people reading this to know that their goals are valid and that they should never give up. No matter what anybody says about your dreams, you will surely achieve them so long as you don’t give up.
The first time I ran for the office - when I thought the odds were in my favour - I lost. The second time I tried, it was a stiff contest. The person I contested against in 2015 was stronger politically than the person who defeated me in 2011 and so it looked largely impossible that I would defeat the person that was stronger than the person who defeated me. I came out nonetheless and won.
Years after my experience,I see a lot of young people who have been inspired by the bold steps I made and have run for offices that many once thought were beyond the reach of young people.
I have seen people in my generation vie for office(s) and delivering fantastically well.
Dear young person, you don’t have to come from a special household before you can get involved in politics. Stories abound of people whom no one knew what home they came from and they navigated their way around and rose to prominence. I want to encourage everyone to get involved.
Some would tell you that politics is very dangerous and you’d need to get fetish to succeed in politics. My reality tells me that this is not true.
There has not been anytime when I dabbled into anything fetish and I have been thriving in the little way that God wants me to thrive. You don’t have to do any of the unpalatable things that people make you believe you have to do to run for office or to succeed in politics.
To the young person whose goal is to run for office, be a person of substance, build the capacity to make an impact and to move our society forward because a man can only give what he has. No matter how hard he tries, if he doesn’t have it, he cannot give it.
The old people who gatekeep our political system can try their best but their best can only be as far as what they’ve got to offer. This is why the educated and well-groomed young people must get involved.
The only challenge I have now is: looking at the calibre of young people coming out to run for office, are they genuinely running to make positive impacts or just going there to fill their pockets because they believe there is so much money in politics?
As much as it is important for young people to contest and get involved in the decision-making process, it is much more important that they get involved to make a difference when they get the opportunity.
(join me every Wednesday at 6pm, as I share with you personal stories from my journey so far and the lessons I have learned from them)
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