The Lagos State Police Command has urged youths across the state to reject political thuggery, electoral violence, cultism, drug abuse and other social vices as Nigeria gradually enters another electoral season.
The Commissioner of Police, Lagos State Command, CP Tijani Fatai, gave the charge on Wednesday while leading a youth sensitisation walkathon organised as part of activities marking the 2026 International Youth Day celebration.
The walk, which commenced at the Lagos State Police Command headquarters, Ikeja, moved through Ipodo to the Computer Village, where police personnel joined youths, members of the National Union of Road Transport Workers (NURTW), Road Transport Employers Association of Nigeria (RTEAN), National Association of Students and other youth groups, as well as traders and community leaders.
Fatai said the initiative was aimed at sensitising youths on their responsibilities as critical stakeholders in society and encouraging them to contribute positively to the development of their communities.
The police commissioner warned youths against allowing themselves to be used as instruments of violence during electioneering, noting that young people constitute the majority of participants in political campaigns and electoral activities.
He said, “We are getting into the electoral process and campaigns are beginning. From experience, most of the time, violence and other menaces are associated with campaigns and political processes.
“We don’t want business as usual. We want our youths to know that they need to contribute meaningfully and positively to the electoral process, and not negatively.”
Fatai urged the participants to take the message back to their various communities and educate other youths who did not participate in the walk on the need for peaceful participation in democratic activities.
He advised youths to focus on building a better future rather than allowing themselves to be manipulated by politicians for personal or political interests.
Also speaking, Chairman, Lagos State Youth Council, Engr. Ibrahim Adigun, urged youths to be vigilant and resist attempts by politicians to recruit them for electoral violence.
Adigun said politicians who sponsor violence would not expose their own children to the dangers associated with political thuggery.
He said, “None of these politicians will use their own children for electioneering violence or thuggery. They use the children of nobody. But I want to say categorically that there is nobody that is nobody. All of us are important in this world.”
He cautioned that youths who embrace violence, drug abuse, cultism and other criminal activities risk destroying their own future.
Similarly, the Lagos State Coordinator, Police Campaign Against Cultism and Other Vices (POCACOV), SP Olivia A. Ugochukwu, urged youths to reject attempts to recruit them into political violence and dissociate themselves from activities capable of jeopardizing their future.
Ugochukwu said the walkathon, conducted in line with the directive of the Inspector-General of Police, was intended to send a positive signal across the country on the need for youths to embrace peace and reject political thuggery.
She said, “We want to send a positive signal to the youth out there to embrace peace, ensure that they do away with violence, do away with thuggery and political violence, so that we can have the better future we are all looking forward to.”
The command stressed that youths remain critical to Nigeria’s future and must therefore make responsible choices that promote peace, security and democratic development.