From the ecstasythat followed the initiation, legislation, passage and
\npresidential signing ofthe Not-Too-young-To- Run bill into law, it is as
\nif Nigerian youths have beenhanded a life-extending pill that will guard
\nthem against death. But it was thesigning of a mere bill that is
\nremarkable because it opens the door to contestthe nation\u2019s offices to
\nyounger people. The prominence of the bill is that italters Sections 66,
\n106, 131, 177 to reduce the age qualifications to contestfor the
\nPresidency from 35 to 30, governor from 35 to 30, House of
\nRepresentativesmembership from 30 to 25, State assembly membership from 30
\nto 25. Curiously,as has become the fad with the current senate, the
\nminimum age requirement tocontest for the Senate was left at the same 35
\nyears it was before the commencementof the movement but that is a story
\nfor another day.<\/p>\n
On yes, theage bar to contest for virtually all elective offices have been
\nlowered. Wildorgies have been thrown over this feat. The youths have run
\nthemselves giddywith joy and excitement and self-congratulations have been
\nthrown and received.But then, what next? What follows the birth of this
\nnew law? Is it all aboutsignificance? What practical realities exist to
\npush this law to the realm ofpracticality? I ask these questions because
\nmany Nigerian youths translate thisas meaning they will easily access
\npower which is far from the intendment andprospect of this new law. Many
\nbelieve that the older generation willautomatically vanish from the
\npolitical stage for them to take over. Manybelieve that the political
\nspace will transform into an exclusive play fieldfor those in their
\nthirties. I see these as a reflection of theshort-sightedness of our
\nyouths who, I can vouch, hardly know the real essenceof this new law. One
\ncan ask how many youths within or under the 35 years,which was the former
\nage limit for these various offices occupy these offices?<\/p>\n
Is it hardto know that such excitement and fawning attended the periodic
\nreduction of theage qualification for these offices? Let us recall that
\nwhen these age limitswere crashed to 35 and 30 in the past, there were
\nequal exhibition of funfairbut some years later, has our political space
\nbeen taken over by the 35 and 40years old? No. it is still the same
\nrecycling and revision of the same playersthat dominated in the past. The
\nyouths are still out there in the field ofagitation. You can bet that
\nanother round of not too young to rule agitationwill start soon with
\ndemands that age qualification to contest elections befurther crashed to
\n20 years. I will throw a wager on this if anyone isinterested. I will also
\nwager that such demand would be granted with little orno effect on the
\nexisting order that has continued to favour the older genre ofour
\npopulation in the quest for politica offices.<\/p>\n
Let no onewalk away with the impression that I want to kill the
\noverflowing joy of theNigerian youths at this moment. No, rather I am
\ncalling them to widen theinquest into the reason why Nigerian youths have
\nbecome permanent agitators forlowering of the age limits to political
\noffices. I am inviting them to enquirewhy youths have become agitating
\nspectators on the Nigerian political stagewhile the same people keep
\njugging the ball to themselves no matter how low theage limit is reduced.
\nI am doing this with sincere intentions because Nigerianyouths, if they
\nrefuse to do much more soul-searching, may find out soon enoughthat the
\nNot-Too-Young-To-Run law is a mere fantastic toy that is taking
\nthemnowhere near power but deeper into the sidelines as permanent
\nagitators. Thenew law may be all about cosmetics and nothing more if
\nNigerian youths refuseto carry out a deeper vouyage on what practically
\nhuts them from politicalpower and wage a meaningful war against such
\nvicissitudes.<\/p>\n
Whatever onemay say, Nigeria\u2019s leadership challenges or that of any other
\nnation, is not anage issue. The developed world did not achieve the height
\nthey have donethrough age-related calibration of their societies.
\nLeadership is both anatural and an acquired art and does not discriminate
\nalong age lines. Suchother things as energy and experience are added
\nflairs that build leadership.If the desire that prompted the
\nNot-Too-Young-To-Run bill was to add toleadership, I don\u2019t see any problem
\nwhere a country recruits its leadershipfrom the former 30 to 35 years
\nbracket but if the pin firing the bill is towiden the space of those that
\neat the proverbial national cake, one can safelythat the passage of the
\nbill into law has rather exacerbated the nationalproblem. So whichever way
\none looks at it, the bill is a costly toy in that thedifference between
\nthe two age limits is just five years!<\/p>\n
If Nigerianyouths want to make a serious inroad into the country\u2019s
\npolitics, they mustengage in serious soul searching and research that will
\nlead them to removeself-imposed road blocks and those imposed by the
\nelderly politicians on theways of the Nigerian youths to political power.
\nLowering the age limit does nottranslate to access to political offices
\nand the earlier the youths realizedthis, the better for all of them.<\/p>\n
Coming to roadblockslaid on the way of Nigerian youths to political
\noffices, I think youths willdrive themselves nearer to power if they
\nsupport any moves made to track andcontrol election campaign funding. This
\nis one of the major hindrances pushingNigerian youths further away from
\naccess to power. If the issue of campaignfunding is not dealt with, the
\nold, corrupt politicians who have amassedimmeasurable wealth from looting
\nthe treasury while in power, will continue todominate the political space
\nirrespective of how downward the age barrier islowered. If Nigerian youths
\ncan form a ring against illicit campaign fundingand uncensored political
\nfunding, they would have made the space moreaccommodating for youths
\nwishing to go into politics. So it will serve theyouths better if they
\nsupport official efforts to track campaign funds andpunish, by exclusion,
\nany violation of the desirable funding politicians shouldbring to
\nelectoral contests.<\/p>\n
Closely relatedto illicit campaign funding is the source of wealth of
\npoliticians. Nigerianyouths must insist on probing the source of wealth
\nintending politicians bringto the table. In fact, youths must support a
\ncritical probe of the wealth of Nigeriansbecause they are always the
\nultimate casualties of laundering illicit wealth inpolitics and of course
\nthe acute corruption that has ensured that the country\u2019swealth ends in the
\npockets of few politicians. If Nigerian youths think that
\nanot-too-young-to-run law is the panacea to getting them into the
\nshark-infestedand hugely corrupt Nigerian political space, then they are
\nhallucinating.<\/p>\n
Theaforementioned cases demand that youths merge together and demand
\nstricterpunishment to corrupt Nigerians that employ politics to steal
\npublic resourcesand laundering such illicit wealth in politics. This
\ndemands that youthssupport and empower the present anti-corruption war by
\nthe present government orany future government because they will be the
\nultimate beneficiaries as itpromises to fumigate and make the political
\nspace more accommodating to thesuccessful prosecution of their ambition. I
\nbelieve this was what the Ooni ofIfe, a youth, meant when he advised
\nanother youth, Fela Durotoye who came tohis palace to seek his royal
\nblessing for his presidential ambition, to supportPresident Buhari\u2019s
\nregime in what he is doing in Nigeria presently. There areno two ways
\nabout it. Youths must show unalloyed support to track anddrastically bring
\ndown corruption if they desire the space opened wider fortheir
\nparticipation.<\/p>\n
Coming toroadblocks imposed by the youths themselves to their quest for
\npolitical power,it is trite to say that youths that do no self-respect
\nthemselves are bound toend up collective failures. In a country where many
\nyouths have taken to crime,drug trade, internet fraud, rituals, etc. as
\nmeans of acquiring fast, illicitmoney and thereafter laundering same in
\npolitics, there is no gainsaying thatno one will take them serious.
\nLeadership, as I said earlier is an art that isimbued or learnt so
\ninordinate crave for illicit money cannot be a goodadvertisement to
\nleadership. A youth that is trapped by such desires will neverever access
\nleadership because such youths operate under a climate of mutual
\nsuspicionand fear.<\/p>\n
Equally discouragingis that many youths in Nigeria today are wasting their
\ndaily energies onaligning, fighting for and defending corrupt politicians
\nthat should be putaway for their own good. If Nigerian youths easily
\nmobilize themselves to offerservices to corrupt old politicians and
\ntreasury raiders, they are creativelydemobilizing themselves for
\nleadership. If youths offer themselves as perpetualinternet rats and
\nboisterous defenders for old corrupt politicians, they aredirectly
\ndisqualifying themselves for leadership and not even a
\nthousandNot-Too-Young-To-Run bills will take them an inch near political
\npower.<\/p>\n
I remembersome light years ago, during the Obasanjo regime, some
\npoliticians massedtogether under the umbrella of Under-50 politicians to
\ntake over power, withhigh octave campaign propaganda and soundbites. They
\nheld several meetings andmapped out various strategies to yank power from
\nthe oldies. I wrote an articlethen to say that our leadership problem was
\nnot an age-related issue. Some fewyears down the line, the movement has
\nbeen forgotten, most of the proponentshave died political deaths and
\nnothing is said of it today. My feeling is thatlowering the age limit for
\nqualification to political office merely admits moreyouths to contest. It
\ndoes nothing to alter the political equation to favouryouths. What will
\nfavour youths to get into political spaces in Nigeriarequires not the kind
\nof confetti-throwing razzmatazz that has followed theNot-Too-Young-To- Run
\nlaw but deep strategic thinking that will dismantle themany roadblocks
\nplaced on the paths of the Nigerian youths to access realpolitical power.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
From the ecstasythat followed the initiation, legislation, passage and presidential signing ofthe Not-Too-young-To- Run bill into law, it is as if Nigerian youths have beenhanded a life-extending pill that will…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":62508,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-62507","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-articles-opinions"],"yoast_head":"\n