Winner of Big Brother Naija Season five, Olamilekan Agbeleshebioba (Laycon), including other Nigerian celebrities led several stars and dozens of activists to mobilize young voters ahead of the 2023 general elections.
Other organisers of this festival include Soul artist Falana, Big Brother star Anto Lecky, and Jola Ayeye, host of Nigeria’s most popular podcast ISaidWhatIsaid.
The YVote Fest took place at the Blake Resort in Abuja with special guests and featured elite performances, panel sessions featuring top activists and new media champions from across the country.
According to the event coordinator, Ijudaye Shettima, a program officer at Anvarie Tech, the YVote Fest is a “non-partisan democracy concert and summit that aims to motivate young people to engage and participate in the upcoming 2023 general elections in Nigeria.”
“With the 2023 Nigerian elections just around the corner, this might be the most crucial year in the lives of young Nigerians and the decision we make will determine our future growth, and lay the ground for the coming generation.
“We are living in really precarious times with Inflation, health pandemics, a broken literacy, economic and political structure, climate change, insecurity, and the list goes on. Our individual and collective responsibility to respond to these issues cannot be understated.”
Big Brother’s Anto who gave the keynote speech raised the issues that the country faces today among which include insecurity, poor education systems, and many more restrictions.
Jola Ayeye, Doreen Uloma Nwoke, Afolabi Adekaiyoja, and Friday Odeh joined Murtala Abdullahi who moderated the panel titled “securing our democratic freedoms”.
The panel discussed the threats to democratic freedoms including the End SARS protest crackdown, the Twitter ban, and issues that framed the need for young people to vote and secure our democracy.
A key highlight of the event was the joint performance by Big Brother’s Laycon and Falana where they performed their new single, ‘Freedom’ live for the very first time on any stage.
The song embodies the struggles of young Nigerians and our collective thirst for change and urging people to vote. Other performers included Zilla Oaks, Isah the Prince, Tomi Obanure, Nvthy, and Iyanu Adebiyi.
With young Nigerians making up to 70 per cent of the population, it is critical that they understand the power of their collective voices. Event attendees left with a sense of urgency and committed to making their voices heard.
TheYVoteFest was sponsored by the National Endowment for Democracy Washington DC, USA, and supported by other Nigerian organizations and partners including Gatefield, GST, Culture Custodian, and Femme Mag.
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