By Raheem Ibrahim<\/b><\/p>\n
Barely five months to the general elections, the National President of the Police Officers\u2019 Wives Association (POWA), Chief Mrs Mutiat Olufunmilola Disu, has urged Nigerian youths to reject political thuggery, cultism, cybercrime, hate and violence.<\/p>\n
At the recently held International Youth Day 2026 National Youth Leadership and Security programme, organised by the Nigeria Police Force, Mrs Disu warned youths against allowing themselves to be used by politicians to exploit their energy and future for selfish ambitions.<\/p>\n
She urged young Nigerians to embrace peaceful democratic participation and become responsible leaders in their communities.<\/p>\n
Speaking from the perspective of both a mother and a leader closely connected to the police family, the POWA President said she was particularly worried about youths being manipulated into believing that violence was a pathway to political relevance or power.<\/p>\n
She told the participants, \u201cYour future is too valuable to be rented out. Do not allow anyone to use your youth as a weapon and leave you to face the consequences alone,\u201d adding that Nigerian youths possessed more powerful tools for influencing the country\u2019s future, including their voices, ideas, skills and votes. She urged them to deploy these tools rather than resorting to violence.<\/p>\n
The wife of the Inspector General of Police (IGP) stressed that political differences should not turn young Nigerians into enemies, noting that youths could support different political candidates while remaining peaceful and committed to the nation\u2019s development.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou have something far more powerful: your voice, your ideas, your skills and your vote,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
The POWA President also urged youths to channel their energy into education, entrepreneurship, technology, creative expression and problem-solving, saying, \u201cAs mothers, we want to see you come home safely.\u201d<\/p>\n
Mrs Disu further warned against the dangers of misinformation and the irresponsible use of social media, urging youths to verify information before sharing it.<\/p>\n
\u201cThink before you click; verify before you share,\u201d she said, noting that manipulated videos, false claims and misleading screenshots could create fear, inflame communities and damage people\u2019s reputations.<\/p>\n
Emphasising the need for responsible use of technology, she said, \u201cYour phone is powerful. Use it to build, not to destroy.\u201d<\/p>\n
She added that Nigeria needed a new generation of young leaders who understood that leadership came with responsibility, accountability and service.<\/p>\n
According to her, despite differences in background and circumstances, Nigerian youths largely share common aspirations for security, opportunity, dignity and a country where their dreams can become reality.<\/p>\n
She therefore challenged them to choose \u201cpurpose over pressure, service over selfishness, truth over misinformation and leadership over thuggery.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhenever anyone asks you to choose between violence and your future, remember: your future is greater than political thuggery,\u201d Disu said.<\/p>\n
The three-day International Youth Day 2026 programme, held from August 20 to 22, focused on youth leadership, responsible citizenship, innovation, entrepreneurship, digital responsibility and peaceful democratic participation, with the aim of strengthening police-youth partnerships and promoting safer communities.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
By Raheem Ibrahim Barely five months to the general elections, the National President of the Police Officers\u2019 Wives Association (POWA),<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":23523,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mi_skip_tracking":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-23522","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thenewsnow.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23522","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thenewsnow.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thenewsnow.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thenewsnow.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thenewsnow.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=23522"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/thenewsnow.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23522\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":23525,"href":"https:\/\/thenewsnow.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23522\/revisions\/23525"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thenewsnow.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/23523"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thenewsnow.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=23522"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thenewsnow.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=23522"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thenewsnow.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=23522"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}