Our Youth Leader, Maitawaye

He was a stoutly built youth of average height, no more than 25 years old but with a big head, powerful biceps and a scarred face. He has a large scar across his face that reminded me of a book I once read about the top gangster “Scarface Al Capone”, who terrorised Chicago in the […]

He was a stoutly built youth of average height, no more than 25 years old but with a big head, powerful biceps and a scarred face. He has a large scar across his face that reminded me of a book I once read about the top gangster “Scarface Al Capone”, who terrorised Chicago in the 1930s. You can see on Maitawaye’s face that he has gone through so much in his short but eventful life.
Maikaho brought him to me as the shortlisted candidate for the post of our campaign’s Youth Leader. As soon as we appointed HajiyaDelaYar’guguwa to lead the Women’s Wing, Maikaho said we should urgently fill the position of Youth Leader, that it is even more urgent than that of Women Leader. I therefore asked him to nominate a candidate and without hesitation he nominated IliyadanMaitawaye.
Selecting a youth wing leader is Maikaho’s natural area. He himself rose through the ranks of Tafki State politics as a youth leader. Even after he graduated into the ranks of adult politicians, Maikaho maintained his firm control over youths in politics. It is a critical aspect of his power in politics. He knows all the youth leaders; he personally chose and promoted most of them. Every politician in Tafki State knows that, so people are not ready to cross swords with MaikahonKaro.
As soon as he sat down, Maitawaye tried to be corporate by giving me his business card. It was computer-generated, not printed but it looked decent. He described himself on the card as “youth activist” and Commander of the Ready To Go Social Club. Maitawaye stated on his card that he obtained a Diploma in Secretarial Studies from our state’s polytechnic. When I asked him which work he did since he finished the diploma, he said, “I didn’t work in the office but I did many things. I did kabukabu operator; I did bus conductor; I did motor boy for a firewood truck driver and I was an apprentice tailor for two weeks.”
I asked Maitawaye the kind of things that Ready To Go Club does. He said, “We do many things that youths are good at. When there is no politics we do football training. When elections are coming we use the club for campaigning. During the election we use the club to help somebody to win. After the election is gone we use it as a cooperative society to get fertiliser and small scale agric loans. We can also do any other thing you want us to do.”
At that point Maikaho took over and went over the duties of a campaign’s Youth Wing. Everything he said, Maitawaye nodded knowingly. Maikaho listed duty number one as providing protection to our candidate, to our campaign office and during all campaign events. Maitawaye said, “It is true. I will post five of our boys to be at Alhaji’s house everyday from dawn until midnight. They will screen everybody who comes to his house and also at every campaign event.  We know everybody in this town and the politics he is doing. Some people come to your house just to spy for GoshinBauna or the Majority Leader. The minister too has now hired some youth to spy for him. We know all of them so they cannot enter your house or any of our campaign events.”
Maikaho said, “The Youth Wing is also in charge of putting posters.” Again Maitawaye nodded. He said, “We are the ones who can put posters of every wall in this town, including the billboards of companies. Companies don’t like people to put poster on their billboards and they put their watchmen to stop it. But me and my boys, no watchman can stop us when we come to put a poster. We even put posters on the wall of police barracks. The DPO said we should remove it, we refused. When he removed it, we went back in the night and put it again.”
“Very good,” Maikaho said. “Which other contribution will the Youth Wing make to the campaign, even before we get to the election?” Maitawaye said, “OgaMaikaho, anything you want us to do in this campaign, we are ready to do it. You know yourself that during the last election when we were supporting His Excellency, there were some delegates from Tudu Local Government Area that we were suspecting they may not vote for him. They went and stayed in one hotel outside the town. So on the day of the Congress, as they came out of the hotel, our bus smashed the side of their bus. We were fighting with them for one hour and by the time we finished, the accreditation at the congress had ended.”
I was impressed by what I was hearing, so we moved to the next stage, the Youth Wing’s first important assignment. Our opponent GoshinBauna is planning to open his campaign office next week and he is going to bring his supporters from many local government areas. Maitawaye now unveiled a comprehensive plan to spoil the whole occasion. He said, “We know where they are going to keep their supporters. The Commissioner for Education told one principal to close his school early for the holidays so they can put GoshinBauna’s supporters in the students’ dormitories. We have a special plan for them. Between the time the students go away and the time the supporters arrive, we will sneak into the school compound and lace all the beds and mattresses with millet husk. Anybody who sleeps on them will be itching and scratching all over before morning.”
Maitawaye added, “They have also arranged with one maishayi to get up in the morning and make a lot of tea and Indomie for their men. We will go just before dawn and pour water into his stoves so he cannot start a fire. My boys will also move around in the night and tear as many of their posters as possible.”
The budget he presented for this important assignment was even very low. There was one item in the budget called “necessities.” When I asked what those were, Maikaho fixed his eyes on the floor. Maitawaye also looked away, then said, “Our members need something before they go out. This is a tough duty. They must first take something that will remove fear.”