Club Papas boss, Frank Okamigbo, urges violence-free elections

The Chief Executive Officer of Papas Group, Frank Okamigbo, has lent his voice to calls for peaceful, fair and violence-free general elections.

Speaking with newsmen in his office, the United Nations (UN) Youth Ambassador for Peace expressed concern at how deep violence has eaten into the electoral process, with the youth at the centre, saying this pricks his heart the more.

He stated: “We cannot all belong to the same political parties, just as we cannot all come from the same families and it is very normal if we have different preferences of political candidates, but we don’t have to kill ourselves.”

On youths participating in the electoral process and being used as tools for electoral violence, he said: “Young people are the leaders of today and constitute a majority of voters in Nigeria, Africa and the world at large.

“It will be very wrong to think of preventing them from participating in the electoral process, but we must encourage and guide them to channel their energy towards significant and productive endeavours, rather than ungodly activities.

“It is a sad irony that young people who should have the most incentives to envision the long-term interest in the future are most likely to be manipulated to sacrifice their own long term interests and sometimes their life for the sake of the older generation in power.”

He, therefore, admonished the electorate to come out today and other election days to vote wisely to save the future of the children, youth and Nigeria.