The
president of the National Union of Gambian Students has called on all students
and youth of the country to shun electoral violence, as the 1 December 2016
presidential election inches closer.
“I
would like to urge the students and youth to resist any attempt to be used by
politicians to create violence in the country, before, during and after the
election,” Ansumana B. Bojang said.
Mr
Bojang, who is also the president of the University of The Gambia Students
Union, said the prayers and wishes of all the students and youths, just like
the voices of numerous well-meaning Gambians, is to have a violence-free and
fair election.
He
said the role of students is imperative in ensuring and maintaining relative
peace during electoral processes.
Mr
Bojang pointed out that the key factors that attract students and youths to
engage in electoral violence is negative mentorship, financial inducement,
tribal and religious incitements, general youthful exuberance and
experimentation, peer pressure and the decline in standards of morale.
“But
the students should desist from all these and maintain the peace in the country
during the entire electoral process of the forthcoming election,” the student
union leader said.
The
Gambia goes to polls on 1 December 2016 to decide who would steer the affairs
of the country for the next five years.
