The Speaker of the Kwara State House of Assembly, Ali Ahmad, has said the ‘Not Too Young To Run’ bill will be passed by the various state Houses of Assembly before December 25 this year.
Ahmad made the declaration in Abuja in an address at the ‘Not Too Young To Run’ town hall meeting on constitution review.
The legislator who said ‘Not Too Young To Run’ is a global affair and not just for Nigeria, as international human rights organisations are interested in the way it is operated stated that “If there is one bill that is going to pass at the state level, definitely it is the ‘Not Too Young To Run bill’. The bill was able to survive at the national level.
“If you have an objective, pursue it passionately and whatever roadblocks you might have, just believe you will succeed,” he said.
The Kwara Speaker said age should not disqualify a candidate who is interested in governing his people.l
“Kwara state will be among the first states that will turn their own constitution to the National Assembly. In 2019, the young mind should set the motion, start from the beginning, start from the grassroots level,” he said.
“The proposed age for contesting for presidential election is 35 and it used to be 40. For House of Representatives is 25, while it used to be 30. So the minimum age to contest for an election apart from the president is 25, don’t let 2019 go without having a space in the political sphere,” he said.
Also speaking, Samson Itodo, the convener of the ‘Not Too Young To Run’ constitutional review meeting said the bill is among the 15 bills sent to state Houses of Assembly by the National Assembly, and he noted that the bill enjoys wide support from Nigerian youth as it seeks to promote inclusion by reducing the age for running for political offices in Nigeria.
“We cannot say a country will develop without including the youth in the political affairs. It is important to engage youth in the political business of the country. So we call on state Houses of Assembly to vote yes to ‘Not Too Young To Run’ that will give young people the opportunity to contribute to national development,” Itodo said.
According to him, for young people, it is a question of whether our political parties will uphold the principles of democracy, transparency and accountability by ensuring that delegates are not substituted 24 hours before primaries and that young people are given opportunities to buy party nomination forms.
He said the impact of money in Nigerian elections is strong, noting that Nigerians need to enforce the campaign spending law.
The ‘Not Too Young To Run’ bill needs endorsement by 24 state Houses of Assembly before it goes to the president for his assent to become law.
The ‘Not Too Young To Run’ bill was passed by the House of Representatives on July 27, a day after it was passed by the Senate. The bill seeks to reduce the minimum age for elective offices in Nigeria.
The bill, if passed and signed into law, would mean that an individual can contest for the office of President at the age of 35 and governor and the Senate at the age of 30.
