Vote Not Fight Ogun steps up efforts to combat violence, meets with PFN Chairman
Posted by Ahmed Iyanda | 2 years ago | 1,087 times
Ahead of the 2023 general elections, Vote Not Fight Ogun have called on youths and politicians to shun violence before, during and after the general elections.
Recently, Obasanjo Fajemirokun, the Ogun State Coordinator of VNF, made the request while leading a delegation of the group on a visit to the Chairman of Pentecostal Fellowship of Nigeria, Apostle David Ahmed Bello Otaru, in Sagamu.
Obasanjo stated that the purpose of the visit was to inform the cleric about the goals of Vote Not Fight in combating electoral violence before, during and after the 2023 general elections, and to extend an invitation for PFN to attend the upcoming Inter-Faith Forum in Abeokuta.
He said, “The aim is to also campaign for peaceful elections before, during, and after as well as to also reach out to the political actors to ask their supporters not to engage in any form of violence.
Obasanjo emphasized the need to tackle problems such as violent conflicts, hate speech, vote buying, and other issues that have plagued Nigeria's political and electoral processes since the country transitioned to democracy.
His words “The citizens particularly youth and women need to be awake to their responsibility of nation building through active participation in the electoral process. This group of citizens have remained at the fence for a long time because of voter apathy.”
According to him, the vote not fight is a campaign designed to increase the participation of youths in Nigeria’s political and electoral processes.
"This is being done by promoting peaceful and constructive youths engagement with political stakeholders, religious leaders, electoral umpire, and security agencies," he added.
Responding, Apostle David Ahmed Bello Otaru, Chairman of Pentecostal Fellowship of Nigeria, praised VNF for their efforts to combat electoral violence and assured the delegation that PFN will be represented at the Ogun state Vote Not Fight Inter-Faith forum coming up soon.
