In every four-year cycle, millions of young Nigerians gather and wait in long queues and the scorching sun, clutching their Permanent Voters Card (PVC) as if it was their ticket to an ever-better tomorrow. They shout, they hope, they vote, and they watch familiar faces return to power on the same wheels of manipulation, money, and “manufactured” results. They had answered to the call of adulthood, to register and vote as eligible citizens safeguarding their democracy. But elections tell you the truth about this democracy or this charade called democracy as young people learn that the system only offers misplaced hope, a civic space where the people are given their line to read from and the elites hold the script. Young Nigerians are losing faith in democracy because it has become a ritual of betrayal, an institution where their votes and voices do not count, and power circulates only among the same governing elite.
For a generation raised being told that “their vote is their power,” the reality is humiliating, the ballot box has become a symbol of hopelessness, not freedom. To many Nigerians, elections are not about choice but about pretence intended to create a pleasant appearance by politicians. Posters bear new faces, the slogans get louder, but the outcome is the same. From rigged results to court-imposed victories, democracy has been stripped of credibility in Nigeria. Let us look at the last cycle of elections; the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) electoral technology reforms promised transparency but delivered confusion, the Courts promised justice but are becoming tools of political negotiation. When outcomes are scripted and institutions act like accomplices, young people learn early that participation is a theatre, not empowerment. can’t preach participation to a generation that’s only seen manipulation. “We voted, but nothing changed.” You accuse us of apathy but that’s not apathy, it is frustration. It is not just about the youth of today, because we have also seen the frustration of the older generation of today who were the youths of yesterday and were sold the dream of democracy.
This growing disillusionment is true. You can see it on the empty polling stations, on the social media timelines, and the passport office lines for migration. The japa generation is not only running from poor governance but also the emotional abuse of believing in a country that keeps breaking its promises. Democracy was intended to hear them out, but it only gave them deaf ears. It is hard to convince a fresh young graduate who can hardly eat twice daily that representation matters, when the same politicians who overlooked him or her now beg him or her for his or her vote in packaged rice bags. The truth is bitter; Nigeria’s democracy is not failing for lack of trying; it is just designed to work for the few political elites and a “democracy: controlled by a few can only fail. Godfathers select candidates, courts decide winners, and money does the rest. They smile with the youths during campaigns only to discard the youths after inauguration ceremonies. The very same politicians who impoverish the people, use poverty as a weapon during elections as they buy their way into office and go on to spend their time in office making things worse. In this cycle, even change itself turns into dangerous optimism.
Nigeria does not lack voters, but real choices. Elections change presidents, not power because Nigeria may have had different faces of Presidents since 1999 but political power has remained to enrich a select few
When faith dies, systems collapse quietly. What’s happening to young Nigerians is not rebellion , it is resignation. They are not screaming anymore, because they have discovered screaming doesn’t do anything. Instead, they are starting businesses, leaving the country, or resorting to rants online street protests come with a heavy penalty and the ballots no longer feel safe. And that should terrify the political elites. The political elites in Nigeria should be terrified because what is a democracy without believers? Nigeria’s youth do not want a dictatorship branded as democracy.. Youth want a democracy where they can believe in the ballot box. Faith cannot survive repeated betrayal and Nigeria’s democracy has betrayed its youth too many times. Will the political elites listen to the youth this time?
Ibrahim Jah is a young leader and a strong advocate for democracy and good governance. He is passionate about rebuilding public trust in leadership and ensuring that citizens, especially young people, have a meaningful voice in the decisions that shape their lives. Ibrahim aspires to serve in public office, where he hopes to lead reforms rooted in transparency, inclusion, and social justice.
