The Bill seeking to alter the Constitution to disqualify those 60 years and above from contesting for Executive offices such as President, Vice President, Governor and Deputy Governor, has passed the second reading in the House of Representatives. It was sponsored by Ikenga Ugochinyere (PDP, Imo State).
If it becomes part of our Constitution, it will disqualify powerful incumbent officeholders, such as President Bola Tinubu, Vice President Kashim Shettima and many high performing and popular Governors and their promising Deputies from contesting for a second term in 2027.
This factor alone makes the Bill “dead on arrival”. No president will sign any constitution amendment that will truncate his political ambitions. Also, no governor will encourage his state lawmakers to okay a bill to deprive them of their bid to serve for two terms. Should this Bill survive the public hearing stage, it may never make it to the President’s desk, let alone getting assented to.
Indeed, we would prefer that no further time, energy and fund should be wasted in pursuit of this Bill. Age alone has nothing to do with leadership. Incompetence or lack of leadership skills is a personal flaw. Once a person has it, it stays with him from youth to old age.
There is no doubt that old age can affect cognitive, health and physical abilities, as former President Muhammadu Buhari once confessed of its effect on him. But there are leaders like former President Olusegun Obasanjo, who remain cognitively and physically sharp till well into their old age. Just as some of the best leaders have been young people, the same is true of elders who are additionally blessed with experience and deeply-rooted connections capable of making tough problems easier to solve.
What we require is a situation whereby leadership materials are properly vetted for fitness to hold office. These have already been covered by our Constitution, laws and regulations concerning qualification to contest for certain offices. But because of our weak and compromised state institutions, terminally sick candidates, certificate forgers, drug lords and convicted criminals manage to push their ways into exalted offices. We must fix our institutions and make them work.
We must also return to active leadership recruitment strategies which our pioneer political leaders and nationalists such as Nnamdi Azikiwe, Ahmadu Bello, Obafemi Awolowo and others deployed to pick smart, upright, competent and people-oriented leadership materials right from the schools and universities. This is the best way to further the Not-Too-Young-To-Run initiative.
Political parties must strengthen their youth and women wings for leadership recruitment, rather than using them to corrupt our democracy for selfish gain. The Age Barrier Bill will rob citizens of their right to stand for elections. It is a throwback to the politics of the military era.
It must be thrown out.
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