Ahead of the February 2022 Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Area Council Elections, youth candidates and other politicians have identified insecurity and finance as the challenges confronting them ahead of the elections.
The candidates said this on Friday in Abuja at the ‘Run to Win Town Hall Meeting’ with young candidates and the leadership of political parties organised by YIaga Africa.
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They listed the challenges to include finance, insecurity and party internal democracy among others.
Ms Juliet Isi-Ikhayele of the African Democratic Congress (ADC) counsellorship candidate, Kubwa ward under Bwari Area Council, urged political parties to put structures in place to assist youths and women to contest.
She said that manpower was key in winning elections and that parties must held them to engage in this regard in various wards in order to set up polling agents.
Isi-Ikhayele said it would help in having ready man power during elections at ward levels adding that parties should also help with logistics mobilisation and finance because politics was not a man’s duty but a collective effort.
Also, Mr Daniel Amos, the Kwali Area Council Chairmanship candidate for Allied Peoples Movement (APM), said it was hard for youths to contest elections in Nigeria due to finance and other logistics involved.
Amos also said that insecurity is another challenge he was facing because Kwali being a remote area was prone to kidnapping and mobility to the villages for campaigns and other electioneering activities were not easy.
He said, “We need all the support we can get. We need support from our political parties for campaign because you can’t campaign without security, we need parties to help in securing youths as they go about campaigning. We also need financial assistance and logistics supports among others.”
On her part, Ms. Mina Horsfall, the National Rescue Movement (NRM) Chairmanship candidate for the Abuja Municipal Area Council (AMAC) said that there was need to encourage youths, women and persons with disabilities (PWDs) to run for elections by supporting them in various ways.
Horsfall urged security agencies to provide security support to help them get safe campaigns.
Also, the Vice Chairman, Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) FCT, Mr. Mahmud Muhammed, commended the Yiaga Africa for initiating the programme as it was an avenue for more enlightenment for youths and women to participate in progressively in politics.
He said that so as far, PDP youths were determined to participate in FCT elections this time around and that the greatest measure put in place by PDP was to encourage them to run.
He said, “When you look at AMAC chairmanship candidates, the PDP representative is the youngest among those contesting for election in the entire FCT. That alone is encouraging youths because they are hopeful that they could be there tomorrow.”
The Programme Manager, Governance and Development Programme Yiaga Africa, Mr. Ibrahim Farouk, said the event was a build-up on the passage of the Not Too Young To Run law.
Farouk said that the ‘Run To Win’ is a campaign dedicated to supporting young women and men with competence, capacity and character to contest and win elections in Nigeria borne from the demands from the Not-Too-Young-to-Run campaign.
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