The Trade Union Congress, senators and some prominent Nigerians have expressed divergent views over President Goodluck Jonathan’s call for the removal of age limit as a prequalification for the Presidency.
President of the TUC, Mr. Bala Kaigama and a Senior Advocate of Nigeria, Dr. Joseph Nwobike, supported the President’s call.
But Senators Olufemi Lanlehin (Oyo South); Kabiru Marafa (Zamfara Central); and Chris Ngige ( Anambra Central), on Sunday, disagreed with the President.
Kaigama, in an interview with one of our correspondents, supported the President’s call for a review of the approved prequalification age of 40 years for the Presidency.
The TUC President said that the prevailing practice where the old politicians, who featured in the politics of first and second republics, kept recycling themselves in the country had not improved the lot of the country.
He said that the demand for a downward review of the age was necessary to give the Nigerian youth the opportunity to play important roles in the governance of the r country.
Kaigama said that the issue was brought up at the Constitutional Conference when the TUC demanded a review from 40 to 35 years but was rejected.
He said, “We even debated this issue on the floor of the conference, we wanted a review to 35 years but it was floored.
“We were even telling the youths to exploit their populace and start from somewhere to demand for this; they should not pay lip service to it and they should not be subservient to money; they should not allow themselves to be bought or divided with money.
“We (TUC) agree that it should be reviewed; the old people keep recycling themselves; there are people who featured in the First Republic and the Second Republic that are still around; is there any improvement in the country.”
“When will the Nigerian youths have the opportunity; the youths really need to work harder.”
Nwobike, who backed the President’s suggestion, said there was no basis for fixing age limit for the office of the president.
He said, “We all know that many of the largest corporations in the world are run by people under 30 years old.
“There is no rational empirical basis for fixing the minimum age that should be attained by people who want to aspire to be the President of the country.
“In effect there is nothing a 40-year-old can do that 30 years old cannot do. I would think it is better to remove the age limit so that whoever has attained the voting age can aspire to be voted as the president of the nation.”
But Senator Marafa also insisted that reviewing downward the age limit for presidential aspirants in Nigeria would most likely create certain problems for the entire nation because a younger person might not have the necessary experience and maturity to take some critical decisions.
He said, “It was possible to have Heads of State who were less than 40 years in the 1960s and early 1970s in Nigeria but the situation then and what we have now is different. I believe we should retain the 40 year age limit if we really know the sensitive nature of the office”
On his part, Ngige, who was a former Governor of Anambra State, said abolishing the age limit would be counter-productive but that the age limit could be further reviewed to about 35 years.
He said, “I don’t agree with President Jonathan that there should be no age limit for presidential aspirants. He is saying that an 18-year old undergraduate should be allowed to contest the election?
“How cans an 18-year old man or woman has the cognate experience, the wisdom, and the sagacity to rule us? He or she will run into problems.”
Lanlehin, who is aspiring to contest the next governorship election in Oyo State, said there should be age limit because our country cannot afford to have a minor as president.
He said, “There should be age limit. In any human endeavour, there must be a criteria, a guideline, just like there is age limit for voters, certain degree of maturity is expected from someone who is aspiring to lead a country like Nigeria”
Also, a human rights lawyer, Mr. Jiti Ogunye, described the President’s suggestion as “ill-timed and not well-thought out”.
“I think when a President of any country makes a suggestion about any issue or any provision of the constitution, that suggestion ought to be weighed and measured, or the President ought to have reflected properly on it and the timing of the suggestion ought to be right,” Ogunye said.
The lawyer said the suggestion was “ill-timed” since the President had refused to seize the opportunity of the National Conference to push for such suggestion.
He added that it was not well-thought out as the issue was not part of the issue currently bothering teeming Nigerians of all ages.
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