Nigerian baby-kisser Alex Ikwechegh has brought about outrage next he was once stuck on video slapping and verbally abusing a taxi driving force turning in meals to his area.

“Do you know who I am?… I can make you disappear in this whole country, and nothing will happen,” Ikwechegh was once heard pronouncing within the video that went viral.

The altercation it sounds as if began next the driving force requested Ikwechegh to progress outdoor to bundle the meals, instead than him taking it inside of.

Surprised Nigerians shared the clip broadly, forcing Ikwechegh, a member of the opposition All Progressives Magnificent Alliance (APGA) birthday party who represents the south-eastern the city of Aba within the Space of Representatives, to factor a proper apology – a stark distinction to his boastful and intimidating pitch within the video.

Sadly, it’s ordinary in Nigeria for officers and alternative “big men” to worth their energy to intimidate common voters with the ordinary word: “Do you know who I am?” – a reminder of the untouchable situation they consider they stock.

Politicians, together with many MPs, incessantly additionally intimidate the people through travelling in massive convoys, with police escorts and blaring sirens.

Their convoys are given precedence over usual visitors, with safety officials occasionally reacting aggressively in opposition to any individual who fails to manufacture manner for them.

However this original case is particularly disappointing as a result of Ikwechegh, at 42, is a part of a more youthful time of politicians.

The “Not Too Young to Run” marketing campaign was once began a couple of years in the past through civil nation organisations to inspire extra younger population to change into inquisitive about Nigerian politics.

With 70% of the rustic’s nation below 35, the initiative aimed to decrease the month limits for operating for administrative center, permitting more youthful Nigerians in order unused concepts and a unutilized strategy to management.

It succeeded in 2018, decreasing the minimal month necessities for diverse workplaces and elevating the choice of younger applicants from 6% to 27% in only one 12 months.

The month of operating for the Space of Representatives – the decrease chamber of parliament – was once lowered from 30 to twenty-five, the Senate and governorship from 35 to 30, and president from 40 to 30.

Since Nigeria’s median month is best 18, many was hoping more youthful leaders would split the aging patterns of oppression and entitlement.

However Ikwechegh’s movements show off one of the most similar aging behaviours that many younger Nigerians had was hoping can be left in the back of.

Unfortunately, his case isn’t distinctive. Two years in the past, Nigeria’s then-youngest senator, Elisha Abbo, who was once 41 on the date, was once filmed slapping a store worker next accusing her of “insulting” him.

He threatened her with arrest, or even known as over a police officer to hold it out.

The incident was once stuck on CCTV and in the end ended in Abbo, who’s not a senator next dropping elections extreme 12 months, apologising. However it uncovered simply how deeply rooted this tradition of abuse of energy is.

All this has left many Nigerians questioning if more youthful leaders are falling into the similar traps because the used time.

The condition takes me again to my boarding college days, the place senior scholars incessantly bullied youngs.

As youngs, my classmates and I’d gladly speak about what we’d do as soon as it was once our flip to be seniors, picturing the punishments we’d hand ailing to these more youthful than us.

It felt like a proper, one thing to stay up for – a petite relief amid the hardships of being a teenager – that at some point, we will be the ones with the ability, no longer those at the receiving finish.

However through the date we made it to senior 12 months, the varsity presented unused laws towards bullying, and we felt robbed.

We had waited our flip, and now that proper was once being taken from us. The varsity caught with its unused laws even if many seniors nonetheless discovered tactics to bypass them.

It seems like this similar cycle is taking part in out on a countrywide degree.

When a 42-year-old baby-kisser, energetic on social media, can slap a taxi driving force – thrice – on digital camera with out a 2d concept, it forces us to surprise if the more youthful time of politicians are merely ready to inherit, instead than split, the cycle of privilege, whether or not they in point of fact desire a unutilized get started or are simply looking forward to their flip to flourish energy with none restraint.

Nigeria’s Space of Representatives has referred Ikwechegh to its Ethics and Privileges Committee next he was once accused of bringing it into disrepute.

He has additionally been arraigned in court docket on fees of “threats, assaults, and abuse of public office”.

His behaviour is a sobering reminder that entitlement and impunity is also extra deeply embedded in Nigerian tradition than generational alternate unloved can cope with.

Adaobi Tricia Nwaubani is a Nigerian journalist and novelist primarily based in Abuja and London.