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 the country gradually enters another electoral season.
The Commissioner of Police, Lagos State Command, CP Tijani Fatai, gave the charge yesterday 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 Computer Village, where police personnel joined youths, members of the National Union of Road Transport Workers (NURTW), Road Transport Employers Association of Nigeria (RTEAN), Crime Reporters Association of Nigeria (CRAN), 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, 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 future.
Similarly, the Lagos State Coordinator, Police Campaign Against Cultism and Other Vices (POCACOV), SP Olivia Ugochukwu, urged youths to reject attempts to recruit them into political violence and dissociate themselves from activities capable of jeopardising 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 President of the Crime Reporters Association of Nigeria (CRAN), Lekan Olabulo, said the war against crime and substance abuse should not be left to security agencies and the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) alone.
He said advocacy against crime and drug abuse should begin from the home, adding that religious organisations and community leaders also have important roles to play in the fight against crime and criminality.
Olabulo urged youths to heed the advice of security agencies and other stakeholders and refuse to become willing tools in the hands of politicians bent on fomenting violence.
The two-hour walk brought together youths, members of various organisations and security personnel in a show of solidarity for a safer and more responsible society.
Participants marched through the streets of Ikeja with placards carrying messages such as “My Future Is Greater Than Political Thuggery,” “Shun Digital Thuggery,” “Youth for Change” and “Together for Peace,” reinforcing the central message of the programme that young people should reject violence, drug abuse and other forms of criminality.
The Lagos State Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO), SP Abimbola Adebisi, said the message being passed to the youths was simple and direct: “Say no to drugs and crime.”
She explained that the command’s objective was not only to respond to crime but also to prevent young people from becoming involved in criminal activities in the first place.
Adebisi added that the command would continue to sensitise youths through schools and community programmes, stressing that prevention remained better than waiting until young people became offenders.
