Don Cautions Youth Against Electoral Violence

Ahead of the 2019 general elections in the country, a university don, Dr. Steve Wodu has called on Nigerian youths to resist being used as stooges to commit electoral offences.
Wodu, who spoke with The Tide in an interview in Port Harcourt, yesterday, said the youth, as the productive age, has the capacity of guaranteeing their future by resisting being used as “pawns in the game of power”.
He recalled that most Nigerian leaders got into the process of governance at their youthful ages, and wondered why Nigerian youths today are mostly alienated from the mainstream of governance.
Wodu, an environmental sociologist, and senior lecturer in the University of Port Harcourt, frowned against a situation where some Nigerian youths make themselves readily available to carry out some shoddy deals for politicians.
This according to him, has made politicians to undermine the potentials of Youths in leadership.
He called for the speedy enactment of the “Not too young to run” bill presenting before the National Assembly, noting that “if the bill is passed into law it will go a long way to empower Nigerian youths to seek sensitive elective positions”.
Wodu also urged youths to embrace education and equip themselves to take up responsibilities of governance in the country.
He also advised the Rivers State Independent Electoral Commission (RSIEC) and the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to conduct free and fair polls to gain public credibility.

Taneh Beemene