After signing the long-awaited ‘Not-Too-Young-To-Run’ Bill into law on Thursday, President Muhammadu Buhari asked Nigerian youths to shelve their presidential ambitions until after his second tenure in office in 2023.
President Buhari said this shortly after signing the Bill which now cuts down the age limit for youths seeking to run for any elective office in the country.
Addressing the youths, the president said, “I am confident each one of you will transform Nigeria in your own way – whether through media, agricultural enterprise, economists, engineers, or as lawmakers in your States or at Federal levels, or as State Governors – and even someday, as President Why not?”
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Buhari, however, said jokingly: “But please, can I ask you to postpone your campaigns till after the 2019 elections!”
The president further said, “Let me say how proud I am, and how proud the entire country is, of what you have accomplished. Congratulations and best of luck with continuing to work to make Nigeria a greater country for us and future generations of Nigerians.”
The Bill, which was sponsored by the Honourable Tony Nwulu in the House of Representatives and Senator AbdulAziz Nyako in the Senate, was signed by Buhari at the Presidential Villa on Thursday.
By implication, the president’s assent to the Bill has rendered it a law in Nigeria. The new law now provides that the age limit for members of both state and federal house of assemblies will be 25 years. The age limit for senators and governors will now be pegged at the minimum of 30 years, while the presidential age limit has been reduced to 35 years.