Dotun Roy
Commonwealth Youth Council has put together a campaign platform to kick against all forms of violence during elections such that could happen either Pre-election periods and Post elections period. The event which took place at the Bolingo Hotel, Abuja witnessed turn out of patriotic Nigerian Youth across the 6 geo-political zones as well as well-Nigerians such as Nollywood Actor, Ejike Asiegbu, Isaac Balamin, Balamin Foundation, Ahmed Adamu, Chairperson CYC were all there to endorse the event.
This event is a follow-up and implementation level of the pilot youth led initiative called Youth-Campaign Against Election Violence (Y-CAEV) campaign flagged off in Abuja, Nigeria on 30th Janaury, 2014 by the Secretary General of the Commonwealth. Y-CAEV is aimed at mobilising the Nigerian youths and the rest of commonwealth youths to achieve peaceful elections in all Commonwealth countries.
According to Ahmed Adamu, Chairman Commonwealth Youth Council, he said we, Nigerian Youths are the future of this great nation Nigeria, and it saddens me each time I read or hear in the news that we are being used as political thugs during the elections to hijack ballot boxes or threatens political opponents, he explained. He further implore all the Nigerian youth to wake up to their resposibility as nation builders and get more involved in developmental activities rather than causing chaos during elections, he added.
In the same vein, at the event some youth were appointed across the 6 geo-political zones in Nigeria as the Y-CEAV Marshalls and Ambassadors. Also, the highpoint of the event was signing of peace accord, all Nigerian youths in attendance were encouraged to sign peace accord documents in form of solidarity for peaceful electoral activities across Nigeria during this Feburary General election.
Objectives of Y-CAEV are as follow:
- To achieve zero election violence, zero cost of lives and properties.
- To enlighten young people on the danger of the election violence.
To educate young people on the electoral procedures and election complain processess.
To train and inculcate the discipline of peace, tolerance and obedience.
To coach young people on proper method and best practice of election inspection.
To enlighten all election stakeholders e.g. electoral officers, security, political party agents, journalist, observers, etc on the need for harmony and good working relation during elections.
To identify the best practice of achieving peaceful elections.
More pics at the event:
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