By Ibrahim A. Jagaba
On Saturday, 25 February, 2023, Nigerians will go to the polls to elect a new President and over 400 members of the National Assembly; while Saturday, 11 March, 2023, is the official date for the Governorship and state Houses of Assemblies elections.
Thus, the situation undoubtedly calls for increased commitment and sacrifice by all responsible citizens of the country towards a peaceful, fair and credible polls.
The above position in the words of the Commander, Rapid Response Squad (RRS), Lagos, CSP Saheed Olayinka Egbeyemi, who is a leading member of a frontline non- governmental body, the Agege Molebi United Forum, informed the decision to hold what they christened, “Walk Against Electoral Violence”, was to reawaken the spirit of peace across the land as the elections draw closer.
Agege Molebi United Forum, as an NGO, was established to among other things, render support and contribute all that is lawfully good for the growth and development of humanity, especially in Agege and Lagos State at large; one of such many missions is to invest in measures capable of reinforcing and sustaining peace, security and greater communo-societal good, which is what the exercise, “Walk Against Electoral Violence”, represents for the Forum.
“Today we are about peaceful general elections; a fortnight ago, we were in 12 elementary schools across Agege and environs, where we gave out scholarships, provided a number of pupils with new school uniforms, sandals and distributed over 12,000 writing materials made up of exercise books and biros to subsidize parental educational costs and lend our modest support to the child’s education right act,” Egbeyemi said.
One of the schools, African Church Central Primary School, Oniwaya, which incidentally was the RRS Commander’s alma mater, benefitted from a 10.5kva Firman brand generating set donated by the Forum.
The Forum members traversed about ten different Agege communities after takeoff from Pen Cinema under bridge terminating the Peace Walk at Market Street at Gbogunleri area, with the clear message of peace all the way as variously inscripted on the many placards and banners hoisted by many proud members of the group.
“The exercise as carried out today by the Agege Molebi United Forum, is most necessary at this time and I want to call on other similar vanguards to come together in similar fashion to promote and ensure our elections as peace models,” this was the contribution of a prominent member of the Forum, the Sarki Overall of Alimosho, His Royal Highness Alhaji Ahmed Haruna Kuraja, who was part of the procession.
