Refuse to be used as political thugs in 2023, Comr Okonkwo charges youths
By Matthew Eloyi
Delta State Special Assistant to the Commissioner for Lands and Surveys, Comrade Ekene Okonkwo has charged Nigerian youths not to allow themselves to be used by mischievous politicians to perpetuate violence in the electoral process as the 2023 general election approaches.
Okonkwo gave the charge in Asaba when a delegation of Young Citizens of Nigeria paid him a courtesy visit.
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According to him, experience has shown that youths are major stakeholders in the electoral process, which is why politicians that lack the clout have tended to depend largely on them to do odd jobs, particularly thuggery, to see them through their elections.
He, however, decried the manner that such youths were abandoned after risking their lives during elections, and wondered why desperate and self-centered politicians would want to use other parents’ children for dirty jobs while their own children were outside the country enjoying their education.
The Special Assistant maintained that it was high time Nigerian youths resisted the temptation of being drugged and armed to kill and maim others for power-drunk politicians who believed that politics was a do-or-die affair, stressing that they should be agents of change for things to be done right in the country.
He said in Delta, the Okowa administration had put in place youth-friendly policies and programmes aimed at reorienting the younger generation towards a more realistic value system, pointing out that the Governor’s job and wealth creation programmes had produced thousands of self-employed youths, who in turn had become employers of labour.
Okonkwo pledged to always identify with the group and carry the Organization along as the Former Chairman of the Organization.
The Former Coordinator of the body, Comrade Emmanuel Ogbolu, thanked the Lands Commissioner for finding one of their own, Ekene Okonkwo, worthy to serve as her Special Assistant and assured her of the continued support of the group.
Earlier, Okonkwo said the group was a non-governmental and apolitical organisation, committed to ensuring that things were done right in the society to avoid injustice.
Also speaking, the former Public Relations Officer of the body, Comrade Patrick Okolie, congratulated the Special Assistant to the Commissioner on his appointment and prayed God to grant him the wisdom to pilot the affairs of the Ministry.