The Relics of the Old Guard Rule, the Mid-Generation Turns Freedom Fighters, and Gen Z Scrolls with Memes

 

The Three Generations and the Survival of a Nation

By Abioye Tosin

Lawrence | Oriontimes

In every generation lies a story, of power, protest, and paradox. Nigeria’s democracy has matured in age but not in wisdom. Those who once held the banner of resistance have become gatekeepers of the very system they fought. The Old Guard, relics of yesterday’s battles, continue to rule with antique ideas dressed in modern robes.

The mid-generation, once silent beneficiaries, now rediscover the old fire of activism, shouting for reforms they once ignored when opportunity knocked. They tweet, they march, they criticize, yet their anger often burns without blueprint.

Then comes the Gen Z, restless, witty, and digitally awake. They protest in hashtags, joke through pain, and meme their disillusionment. For them, politics is theatre, governance is content, and outrage is a fleeting trend. They scroll through the ruins of a nation built on borrowed hope, unsure whether to laugh or to lead.

Nigeria’s challenge today is not just leadership failure,  it is generational disconnection. Each group speaks a different political language: the Old Guard speaks of loyalty, the mid-generation of resistance, and Gen Z of irony. Between them lies a nation still trying to define its identity,  not by age, but by action.

The survival of Nigeria will not depend on who tweets the loudest or rules the longest, but on who builds with conscience and vision. Until we bridge this generational divide, democracy will remain an echo chamber of blame,  where everyone fights the past but no one reforms the future.

Abioye Tosin Lawrence is the author of Voices from the Fire: My Journey Through a Hollow Empire and the publisher of Oriontimes Online Newspaper.