Senate President Bukola Saraki and Kwara state governor, Alh Abdulfattah Ahmed, have enjoined christian youths in the country to play more active role in politics.
They opined that by so doing, christian youths could become agents of positive change in the country.
The Senate President and Governor Ahmed made the call at a summit organised for Christian youths in the state by the office of the Special Assistant on Religion, Christian Affairs, Reverend Cornelius Fawenu.
The summit had “Christian youths as agents of peace and good governance” as its theme.
Saraki who was represented by his Deputy Chief of Staff, Hon. Gbenga Makojuola also stressed the need for the youths to use their permanent voters card (PVC) to do the right thing.
“It is time for Christians to do the right thing,” he said, warning however that they should not to allow themselves to be used as thugs in the 2019 general election.
Governor Ahmed who was represented by Fawenu equally tressed the need for the youths to shun religious bigotry, desist from inflicting pain on others, warning them not to be used by desperate politicians who are only interested in exploiting their youthfulness.
He counseled the youths to renew their commitment to peace and development of the state as they should not see themselves as second class citizens.
Read Also:
The governor added: “Our government since inception had recognized the place of youth in our drive for development and thus we mounted several programs aimed at ensuring that we bring out the best in our youths, knowing full well that such will translate into peace and peace will allow for development.
“As we are in election period, I appeal to you not to allow yourself to be used by desperate politicians; people who have no value for your lives but only want yo use you to achieve their selfish goals.
“There are politicians who do not care about where you were yesterday or where you should be tomorrow. All they want is that you stand with then today when they are seeking to exploit you. You don’t need such people because they cannot help you. They cannot help our state.”
Guest speaker at the event, Professor Peter Awojobi, Former Provost, UMCATC, Ilorin stressed the need for believers to know their rights if they want to avoid being cheated. He also stressed that the involvement of clean people, would make politics interesting.
While fielding questions from newsmen, Fawenu said the programme was a build up to the 2019 election as a way of reducing the tension being created in the state polity by some politicians
“Kwara state has a reputation as the state of harmony, in sincerity you will agree with me that Kwara use to be a haven for peace and security but we discovered that politics is being heated up unnecessarily , so we organise this first to promote peace and sensitise them that after the election, we still have a Kwara State, we still have a Nigeria.
“We want us to enjoy a good Nigeria after election, it is also an opportunity, for the Christian to ventilate what are their expectations, their agenda from the candidate of the ruling party, governance needs to be inclusive, everybody needs to be given a sense of belonging.”
