Ahead of the local government election on Plateau State, youths of the state have been urged to be involved in all the eletoral process.
They were encouraged not only to come out and vote, but to also contest the elections and demonstrate their leadership quality.
This call came through a non-governmental organisation know as Community Action for Popular Participation (CAPP), the organiser and sponsor of the public awareness programme for citizens participation in electoral processes.
In his opening remarks, the programme manager of CAPP, Mr. Nelson Amanze, said, “The NGO launched a program known as “Strengthening Citizens Engagement in Electoral Processes (SCEEP) for the purpose of mobilising all stakeholders in the state to participate in the forth-coming council election in the state.”
According to Amanze, “With our experience in past elections in the country, there are particular segments of the society that are the most marginalised in our democratic processes, especially women, youths and persons with disability.
“We need to educate the youths on why they should resist been used as instrument of violence during elections by selfish politicians. We also try to engage electoral officials and the security agencies to avoid any action that may provoke violence in the electoral processes.
“So this programme tagged Campus conversation with students of Plateau State Polytechnic is one of our ways of mobilising youths of the state to participate fully in every election in the state. It is also another way of implementing the passage of the “Not Too Young to Run Bill”.
In a keynote address, Comrade Steve Aluko urged the youths of the state to take the political destiny of the state in their own hands by actively participating in every elections in the state commencing from the proposed council election.