Groups hold ‘vote not fight campaign’ for peaceful elections

As part of the nationwide ‘Youth Get Out the Vote’ campaign to encourage peaceful 2015 electioneering process, the 2face Foundation, in partnership with Young Stars Foundation, National Democratic Institute (NDI) and other partner organisations. has held the ‘Vote Not Fight, Election No Be War’.

The event held on Wednesday at the NRC building, Ifako Ijaiye, Lagos.

Kingsley Bangwell, representative and team leader of Young Stars Foundation, enlightened the audience about the driving force of “vote not fight, election no be war” and what his organisation hoped to get out of the campaign.

He remarked that young people had contributed to electoral violence in time past and the need to change that.

“This initiative is a call to national service and the whole idea is to get youths to understand the importance for us to be peaceful during the elections,” Bangwell said.

“When you get involved in violence, you don’t know who is being affected; someone who could solve a major problem in our nation can be affected.

“Because we know that violence does not help anyone so what we are trying to do is to inculcate that culture among young people and for us that is a huge gain. The gain is not something you can immediately see, it is a present-term, mid-term and long-term objective.”

Bangwell went on to urge the youths not just to participate, but to also be active participants in the electoral and political process that determines the pace of development within the nation.

The campaign can also be joined on Facebook www.facebook.com/votenotfight.

The campaign evolved from a two-day retreat organised by the National Democratic Institute for International Affairs (NDI) in August, during which representatives of 12 youth groups working in Nigeria’s six geopolitical zones met to discuss major issues of concern to youth in the 2015 electoral process.

Participants noted that youth who felt marginalised by the mainstream political process were influenced to take part in acts of electoral violence during the 2011 national elections.

Through the campaign, the organisations hope to launch a nationwide movement that will enable youth to aggregate their voices for change and provide a meaningful alternative to violence before, during and after the 2015 election.

Other partners of the campaign include United States Agency for International Development (USAID), Development Initiative for African Women, Isa Wali Empowerment Initiative, Onelife Initiative for Human Development, the Bridge Youth Development Foundation, Icon Afrique Centre for Transformation, Fusion Youth Advancement Initiative, Leadtots and Human Development, Youth for Change & Social Life Foundation, Theatre of Dreams Development Initiative, Destiny Youth Organisation, Ugreen Foundation, Coalition for Issue-Based Politics and Good Governance.