The National Youth Council of Ogoni People (NYCOP) has advised Ogoni youths to avoid violence in the Rivers gubernatorial and state assembly elections on March 18.
The council advised against killing, ballot box snatching, and any other criminal activity that would jeopardise the peaceful conduct of the elections.
The advice was given to newsmen in Port Harcourt on Tuesday by the group’s National President, Mr Matthew Dighi, and Mr Kingston Menele, Co-President of NYCOP.
In a communique issued following a meeting in Bori, Ogoni Rivers, the group stated that the NYCOP is not a political organisation and has not endorsed any preferred candidate on any particular political platform in the upcoming election.
According to the communique, the group never agreed in any of their meetings to compel the Ogoni people to vote for any preferred candidate or openly canvass for any candidate in the Rivers general election in 2023.
The group urged all contestants of the poll to be agents of peaceful election in Ogoni and the state at large.
The group also called on all eligible voters to go out enmasse and vote the candidates of their choice.
The communique said that NYCOP remained the custodian of Ogoni youths and have equal respect for all governorship candidates in the state, and therefore, distanced itself from a purported endorsement of any governorship candidate.
The group urged all sons and daughters of Ogoni to shun been used as agents of political violence before, during and after the elections.
The group also advised all electoral stakeholders in Ogoni to desist from rigging and causing trouble in Ogoni land, saying that they will be resisted.
NYCOP said it believed and stand to enforce all claims in the Ogoni Bill of Rights in line with the United Nations declaration of Rights of all indigenous Peoples, wishing all candidates good luck and hitch-free election. (NAN)