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If there is one thing on which political thinkers all over the world agree on, it is
the idea that a leader has no glowing legacy or historic impact unless he or she
has a robust successor plan. The baton of personalized political principles must be
transmitted to a prepared protégé.
However, present day democratic realities has made the world reach a consensus
that the best replacement plan is via institutions and policies. The best leaders,
therefore, are the ones who, while in office, molded these factors in a way that
the next generation finds in them tools that make service to country a seamless
exercise.
Now that the Age Reduction Bill, popularly referred to as the Not Too Young To
Run Bill, has received affirmative votes from more than twenty-four State
Assemblies of the Federation, there is no person on a better advantageous
footing to leverage the historic significance of this momentous bill than our own
President Muhammadu Buhari.
For those that are yet to know, the Not Too Young To Run bill seeks to reduce the
age for running for elective offices in Nigeria. It was first passed by the National
Assembly in a celebrated vote in July 2017. Thus, the amendment as passed by
the National Assembly and State Assemblies reduces the qualifying age of the
President from 40 to 35; House of Representatives from 30 years to 25 years and
State House of Assembly from 30 years to 25 years. The age for the Governor and
Senate was retained at the current 35 years.
Undoubtedly, the passage of the bill by the states is very significant, not only
because of the extraordinary speed, but because of its legal and moral
implications.
With this passage, the bill has met the constitutional threshold prescribed by
Section 9 (2) of the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria (as
amended). The Section stipulates that any amendment to the constitution must
be approval by at least 24 State Houses of Assembly.
Moreover, given that the chambers of the State Assemblies are the very
representatives of the thousands of village squares and the decisions that
emanate from them in the nooks and crannies of the nation’s localities, we can
assume that the grassroots have spoken. Truly, the masses of Nigeria are on the
side of the youth!
What is more, a particular incident in one of the State Assemblies demonstrated
that #NotTooYoungToRun is a movement that holds the best of promise not only
for young people, but for every guardian of our young democracy. The interesting
development transpired at the Taraba State House of Assembly when, having
earlier voted against the Bill on 20 th December, the House reversed itself on
Monday 19 th February, and passed the Age Reduction Bill. It was an overwhelming
turnaround, as 22 members voted YES while 2 abstained.
I believe, therefore, that it is as gladdening to every Nigerian as it is to me, that
we as a people have written our name in gold by showing that political inclusion is
possible in our clime.
Nevertheless, with the unprecedented feat recorded so far, the world now seems
to be holding its breath as it watches the ball roll over to President Buhari, who is
expected to assent to the constitutional amendment. Once the President gives his
assent, the bill becomes law. Young people can then run for political office even in
the next general elections in 2019.
To be candid, because of #NotTooYoungToRun, President Buhari has a date with
destiny. Throughout generations past, men and women in positions of power
have rewritten history by singular acts of valor not with the sword but with
conscious offerings enacted simply to build bridges that ushered in a new
paradigm in socio-political fundamentals.
The peculiarity of a government that came riding on the mantra of “Change” is
that Providence has offered it an opportunity to prove its own spirit, as change is
a word that signifies an age-input parameter. Posterity can only be kind to
soldiers who never reneged on their own revolution. Could it be, that The
Almighty has offered this Administration a reason to properly hoist its own flag?
Of course, the #NotTooYoungToRun is a movement that enjoys an emotional and
political acceptance across all divides. Hence, in signing the Age Reduction Bill,
Buhari could find his finest hour.
But importantly, there are three reasons why President Buhari must take
advantage of this opportunity. Firstly, he was recently crowned as Africa’s Anti-
Corruption Champion by no other than the African Union. What I see in this
momentous coronation is the potential for an apotheosis when the president
takes advantage of the Nigerian youthful population. Nigeria, being the most
populous country in Africa, has a ready-made field for Buhari to mainstream his
anti-corruption ethos when he looks towards tomorrow and the youths he will
raise to continue the battle he has initiated today.
In signing the Age Reduction Bill, I believe the president will be saying to those
that made him the African Anti-Corruption Champion, “I am ready to make
politics in Nigeria as inclusive as it can be, because I need to catch them young
and train them when they are still trainable. I want to show other African leaders
who are still hesitant, that the real Anti-Corruption fight is in the political
selection process.”
Secondly, President Buhari served Nigeria as a former military Head of State at
the youthful age of 42, and so could easily become the poster boy for
generational political transition.
By assenting to the bill, he will be birthing a new era in Nigerian politics, in scoring
the psychological goal that his comeback to politics which he was forcefully
ushered out decades ago is, perhaps, a mission to reignite the youthful patriotism
that motivated him to intervene in politics in the first place. This time around, by
signing the Bill, he would be taking the pains to fulfil the democratic and legal
processes that mainstreams Nigerian youths with similar patriotic drive, for good.
Thirdly, immediately after the passage of #NotTooYoungToRun Bill in over 24
States as constitutionally required, something remarkable happened as the British
High Commissioner to Nigeria, Paul Arkwright immediately took to his official
Twitter handle to urge President Buhari to assent to the bill as soon as it was
transmitted to him by the National Assembly.
What I saw in this development is that all eyes are on Nigeria. Given that many
countries of the world do not give young people the opportunity to play a part in
political governance, Nigeria is surely becoming a bastion of modern democratic
best practices, with leaders that are determined to make a difference. The
diplomatic community, and the global society are now waiting for our president
to put an icing on the cake by demonstrating a commitment to inclusive
democratic ideals. This is because by taking concrete steps to address political
inequality and harnessing demographic dividend, the president sets the stage to
take advantage of our country’s teeming youth population which if not properly
and creatively engaged could equally turn into a demographic disaster.
Hamzat Lawal is an activist and currently the Co-Founder/Chief Executive of Connected
Development [CODE]. He is working to build a growing grassroots movement of citizen-
led actions through Follow The Money for better service delivery in rural communities.
He is also a Leader of the Not Too Young To Run Movement. He tweets via
@HamzyCODE
