Yiaga tasks young political candidates on innovation, partners lawyers for free legal services

The Executive Director, Yiaga Africa, Samson Itodo, has emphasised the need for young political candidates to be innovative to meet up with the demands of the 2023 general election.

Itodo stated this at a two-day Political Organising LAB workshop to offer technical support to young candidates between the ages of 25 and 35 during the electioneering for the 2023 polls.

The event, which was an Election Law Clinic is part of the ‘Turn Up Democracy’ project of Yiaga, funded by the United Kingdom Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO).

Itodo said youthful candidates require technical support to adopt political organising skills and improve their knowledge on the electioneering and Election Day operations.

He said: “These young people who have emerged as candidates on the ballot, are considered as part of our own generational responsibility to provide technical support for.

“We are also helping them to organise effectively and understand the procedure as they prepare for elections.

“This lab is also geared towards equipping them with the kind of skill that they require to win elections.

“This programme is just to inspire them and let them know that there is a generation of young people who are determined to change the face of politics in the country.

“They represent the new leaders that Nigeria needs to transform, as well as solve leadership crisis that we face.” He said the candidates also shared their challenges among themselves, which would not only inspire them but could also help them to win elections.

Itodo noted that this could produce more leaders that would fix the problems, which the country was presently grappling with.
He said participants selected for the training are on the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) ballot.

“We also ensured that there is representation from all the parties; we also looked at the age to conform with the Not Too Young to Run Act.”

Itodo said it also considered first time candidates that were running for elective offices in the country. He, however, called for more young people within the age of 20 to 35, to contest for elective offices in the future.

On the day one of the training, Yiaga Africa, in collaboration with the Nigerian Bar Association Young Lawyers Forum, (NBA YLF), sensitised 30 young lawyers with the aim to provide easy access to electoral justice for young political aspirants in the forthcoming general elections.

This, Yiaga said, is a way to provide pro bono legal services to young Nigerian adults participating in the electoral process.
Itodo stated that a total of 3,193 election petitions were filed in the general elections conducted between 2003 and 2015.

“In the 2019 general elections, 766 petitions were filed, which brings the total number of petitions filed to date to 3,959. Section 133(1) of the Electoral Act, 2022 clearly states that participation in an election is the condition precedent to presenting an election petition by candidates and political parties.”

Decrying the level of disregard of court orders by government officials, Itodo described it as an abuse of the rule of law. He noted that the clinic will help to curb such cases that undermine national sovereignty, while urging institutions and Nigerians to call out the government and people who fail to obey court ruling.

On the benefit of the clinic, he said: “Shortly after President Muhammadu Buhari signed into law the ‘Not too young to run’ bill, it was discovered that a lot of youthful candidates, who wanted to run for elective positions, had limited access to legal support, to defend and pursue their political aspirations.”

He said this was due to financial capabilities to secure legal services. “And we also saw cases where those candidates were not only substituted by their parties, but couldn’t defend their rights. And so securing electoral justice was quite challenging.

“We thought that as part of our efforts to increase youth candidacy, as well as increase political inclusion, it was necessary to mobilise young lawyers who can support youth candidates with pro bono legal services, providing them guidance on provisions of the electoral legal framework in this case, the Constitution and the Electoral Act, and help them defend their mandate because of the nature of our electoral process.

“We’re working with these young lawyers to first build their capacity on the electoral legal framework. We are also training them on election law because Yiaga Africa is building their capacities on the Electoral Act, but also mobilising them and urging them to volunteer via support to youthful candidates who are running in the next election, as a way of advancing youth participation.

On his part, the former President of the Nigeria Bar Association of Young Lawyers Forum, Ikeja Branch, Yusuf Nurudeen said: “This clinic is a form of partnership between the NBA-YLF and Yiaga Africa to see how we can change the face of democracy and elections in Nigeria.

“You know that electoral litigation is cost intensive and young candidates do not have access to such funds to mobilise lawyers. This is a way that we can forego our professional fees to create a huge impact in the election because as young lawyers, we are part of the youthful population of the country and we understand the plight of the young people.”