…Calls for extension PVC registration
The Nigeria Ethnic Nationalities Youth Leaders Council (NENYLC), has cautioned Presidential candidates to desist from hate speeches as 2023 election drums.
The President General of the NENYLC, Com. Terry Obieh said this during a press conference of the Youth Leaders Council on the state of the nation in Abuja on Wednesday while delivering a statement, stating that the forthcoming general elections should be seen as a family affair.
Obieh also called on the federal government to resolve the lingering strike action by the Academic Union of Universities, ASUU, as a matter of urgency for students to go back to school. He feared that the continued strike gives room for students to engage in social vices.
He said, “We call on presidential candidates to unite and put Nigeria first in the course of their political engagements and not overheat the polity with hate speeches.
“In view of the ongoing Permanent Voter’s Card registration process, we call on the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to consider succinct administrative management of the entire process, based on the increasing voter interest to get registered.
“Our youths constitute more than 65% of the nation’s population, since they are willing to get their PVCs, they should be given this timely opportunity to carry out their civic and franchise rights.
“We demand that more registration PVC machines should be provided and more registration centers be opened before the closing date, while using this opportunity to demand for extension by two months.”
“Unity, Security and National Development are key drivers towards attaining the Nigeria of our dream, why the 2023 election should not be made a do or die affair. Hence the need for all presidential candidates, political parties and other candidates and citizens not to overheat the polity with hate speech, thereby to extol the virtues of peace and sportsmanship qualities before, during and after the general elections.
“Politics in saner climes is all about constructive criticisms, issue-based engagement and genuine debates, where we shall at a much later date fix a date sometime in November, 2022 for the hosting of a “National Youth 2023 Presidential Debates, where Nigerian Youths can ask questions from all their preferred candidates rather than War-War, let us Jaw-Jaw,” he added.
Also speaking, the President-General, Ohaneze Ndigbo Youth Council Worldwide and Organising Secretary, NENYLC, Mazi Okwu Nnabuike called on political parties to see the 2023 general elections as a brotherly affair .
He therefore urged that whoever clinches the exalted position of the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria come 2023 should see job creation as pivotal.
“Whoever will emerge as the president should see job creation as one of the vital ways of engaging the youths. Our youths staying at home due to the strike of our universities is not good, it brings insecurity because an idle mind is a workshop – either for good or for bad. So we urge the federal government l to resolve the issues between them and the universities so that our youths can go back to school. It is unfortunate that we are planning for an election while our youths are at home. It is not encouraging, ” he said.
On his part, the President of Yoruba Council of youths and Secretary-General of the NENYLC, Barr Oladotun Hassan feared that insecurity, if not handled could disrupt the election.
He therefore called on government at all levels to stem the rising insecurity and violence across the country.
“We also want to use this opportunity to call on the federal, state and local government and critical stakeholders to take on the issue of insecurity, especially, we condemn the Owo killings and all other pockets of violence across the country. This is not representing us as a democratic nation and that is why we want to implore Mr President, one of your cardinal promises is to give us adequate security of lives and property. It is still within your government. As a matter of urgency and for our generation unborn, engage the issue of insecurity with a strong iron fist.
“Nigerians can no longer be crying wolves and as slaves in their land and thAt is why we pray that the issue of insecurity should not disrupt 2023 election.”
