By OPEYEMI ADAMOLEKUN

“Every generation must, out of relative obscurity, discover its mission, fulfill it, or betray it.”-

Frantz Fanon

On February 26, 2010, Chude Jideonwo sent an email titled “Where is the outrage?” about the state of the nation to a few people.

If the present government realizes that it can do anything and get away with it, then we are doomed.

But how can we be doomed when we actually have the power to make our voices heard? At The Future Awards 2010, many young people heard clearly when the Keynote Speaker, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, said: “In Nigeria, generation Y, 70% of our population of 105 million is under 30 years old.” We are in the majority. We have the power to actually make change happen. So what is our excuse? What will we tell our children – that we lay down and took whatever they hit us with? No.

Listen guys, whatever industry we work in, no matter how much money we have, if Nigeria becomes a failed state, we will all suffer! We all have a stake in this! We will be unable to drive our flashy cars and have the great events and do fine dinners if we have no country!

This rally will be the first phase. Other things will come up later. But this one we have to do first. This is the one we need you for. This is one we have to make a statement with.

This is our country; our duty; our future.

I wasn’t one of the recipients, but the actions that followed that email would change the course of my life. Chude was 24 years old at the time and he couldn’t understand why young people were spending time on social media while Wole Soyinka, Femi Falana, and Tunde Bakare, under the banner of the “Save Nigeria Group, SNG,” were on the streets protesting a future that was less about them. President Yar’Adua was MIA, there were killings in Jos, there was no electricity, and fuel scarcity had returned.

In 18 days, with heavy lifting from Adebola Williams, Chioma Chuka and a few others, the #EnoughIsEnough protest was organised to the National Assembly in Abuja on March 16, 2010. The day was incidentally Chude’s 25th birthday. Omotola Jalade-Ekeinde, Waje, Dele Momodu, Stella Damasus, Audu Maikori, Omawumi, Charly Boy and Efe Omoregbe (2Face/2Baba’s Manager) were some of the pop culture icons that participated in the protest. I was invited to join the protests by my friend, Bisola Edun, and it sounded like good fun! Another protest followed in Lagos on April 13. The #EnoughIsEnough protests in Abuja and Lagos led to the birth of Enough is Enough Nigeria, aka EiE Nigeria aka EiE! I have now led EiE for 14 years.




https://www.vanguardngr.com/2025/03/every-generation-must-discover-fulfill-its-mission/