The Supreme Council of Igbo Youths (SCIY) says this year’s general elections would be unacceptable if the millions of Ndigbo fleeing the North are disenfranchised.

Rising from its national executive council meeting in Umuahia, the Abia State capital, yesterday, the group said it was alarmed by the huge number of Ndigbo that have returned home from the North, either fleeing the insurgency in the North-East or for fear of post-election violence as was recorded in 2011.

Briefing newsmen on the outcome of the meeting, SCIY President Odi David called on the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to work out an arrangement for the Igbo returnees to vote during the polls, just as the electoral body was fashioning out plans that could enable Internally Displaced Persons (IDP) from the troubled North-East region to participate in the polls.

The group, which commended INEC for shifting the elections on grounds of insecurity, warned that Ndigbo would not accept the outcome of the election if their kith and kin returning from the North were excluded from the elections.

SCIY, an Ohanaeze Ndigbo youth wing, also called on INEC to intensify its sensitisation programme in the rural areas, saying the current level of sensitisation and mobilisation of the electorate in the rural areas was poor. The group suggested that INEC should recruit more ad-hoc staff for this purpose.

The group expressed displeasure that Ohanaeze Ndigbo endorsed President Goodluck Jonathan without properly consulting Igbo youths. It said that the millions of Igbo youths should be carried along in taking such weighty decisions that would affect them and the entire South-East people.

SCIY advised political parties and their candidates to carry out issue-based campaigns instead character assassination, while calling on the electorate to vote for credible candidates.

Other principal officers present at the briefing included Abia State Coordinator of SCIY, Chike Chinedum, and Director of Inter-Ethnic Affairs, Victor Nwalor.

•Photo shows SCIY President Odi David during the briefing.

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