Ali Ndume, a
Nigerian lawmaker representing Borno South Senatorial District in the 9th
National Assembly, recently shared his thoughts on the performance of the
Labour Party (LP) in the 2023
general elections. During an appearance on
Channels Television’s Sunday Politics, Ndume stated that the results of the
election indicate that the youth and middle-class populations in Nigeria are
becoming weary of the older generation who have held political power for
decades.
Ndume, who
has been a member of the National Assembly for 20 years and is also the
Chairman of the Senate Committee on Army, expressed surprise at the LP’s strong
showing in the polls. He stated that the LP’s performance surpassed his
expectations and cited Peter Obi, the LP’s candidate, as an example. Ndume
noted that Obi garnered over six million votes, a feat that he did not think
was possible.
The lawmaker
went on to explain that the results of the election reflect a growing trend of
discontent among the middle-income and youth groups towards the older
generation of politicians who have been in power for many years. Ndume admitted
that he himself is part of the upper level of politicians in their 70s and 80s
who have been in the corridors of power since they were in their 30s.
In the
February 25th election, Bola Tinubu of the All Progressives Congress (APC), who
is 70 years old, won 12 out of Nigeria’s 36 states and secured a significant
number of votes in several other states. He claimed the highest number of
votes, with 8,794,726, which was almost two million more than his closest
rival, former Vice President Atiku Abubakar of the Peoples Democratic Party
(PDP), who is 76 years old. The LP’s candidate, Peter Obi, who had galvanized
young voters in a remarkable manner in less than a year, finished the race with
6,101,533 votes.
