1st June, 2018
Mr Monday Ubani, the second National Vice-President of Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) on Wednesday in Lagos, commended President Muhammadu Buhari for signing the Not-Too-Young-To-Run bill into law.
President Buhari signed the bill into law on Thursday at the Council Chambers of the Presidential Villa in Abuja, barely two days after he pledged to do so during the country’s Democracy Day celebration on May 29.
Founded in 2016 to promote increased youth participation in the country’s political process, the
law reduces the age qualification for president from 40 to 30 years, governor from 35 to 30 years, senator from 35 to 30 years, House of Representatives membership from 30 to 25 years and State House of Assembly membership from 30 to 25 years.
Ubani told a news conference in Lagos that “I commend the President for this particular measure and the step that this government has taken regarding the bill.
“What we have found in other countries that are developing is that they take time to build and groom the leadership that will take over.
“When they do, they will see that the country is moving at a faster speed but over time in this country, we have not taken time to groom our leadership.
“We keep on recycling our leaders and we don’t see much improvement in our governance.
“For people to now sit down and think that we have a lot of young ones who are intelligent, patriotic and have the zeal and allow them to take leadership positions is quite commendable.
“I am happy with the passage of the Not-Too-Young-To-Run bill into law.”
The ex-national vice president of NBA called for restructuring of the country as solution
to the challenges facing the nation.
He added that “if we get the issue of leadership right but fail to deal with the issue of structure in this country, we are going nowhere.”
He suggested that Nigerians in the run up to the 2019 elections should demand that aspiring politicians
swear to written affidavit on oath to restructure the country upon assumption of office.