As Edo State governorship election approaches, prominent Edo citizen, Captain Hosa Okunbo, has warned the youth to desist from allowing any politician to use them to carry out violence act in the state.
There has been strong tension in the political atmosphere in the state with the major actors from the All Progressives Congress (APC) and People’s Democratic Party (PDP), who have been engaging each other in verbal attack and character assassination.
The incumbent governor, Godwin Obaseki, who is seeing re-election on the platform of the PDP, would be challenged by Osagie Ize-Iyamu of the APC and other contenders in the September 19 elections.
From the reported electoral violence in the campaign rallies of both the PDP and the APC, the youths have been used as major drivers.
Also, the state legislature has been boiling with crisis of late with factions of the ruling and opposition parties trying to out-do one another.
In a statement on Sunday, titled, ‘Captain Okunbo Calls For Violence-Free Poll in Edo State’, the business mogul urges “parents to ensure their children and wards were not used by politicians to perpetrate violence before, during and after the election.”
He warns that, “Elections would come and go but our great state would remain. Nothing thrives under violence. Our state can only move forward in a peaceful environment. We must begin to redirect our youths from negativism to positivism.
“President Jonathan said during the build-up to the 2015 election and he stood by his words that his ambition or that of any politician was not worth the single blood of any citizen. Likewise, no Edo citizen should have his or her blood spilled because of the ambition of any politician.
“Edo State is the only home we have and it is the only home we can identify with. The future of our state is pregnant. So let us identify strangers in our midst as they intend to import thugs to our midst. Let us report such to the police for necessary action,”
