The Peoples Democratic Party, the Coalition of United Political Parties and the Social Democratic Party have berated the House of Representatives for proposing 60-year age for the President and governors in the country.
The bill which passed second reading on Thursday seeks to stop individuals with over 60 years from running for president and governor in Nigeria.
If the bill scales legislative scrutiny and is signed into law, President Bola Tinubu, former Vice President Atiku Abubakar and the 2023 presidential candidate of the Labour Party, Mr Peter Obi, will miss out on the 2027 presidential contest as they are all above 60 years.
The PDP said the proposal was a misplaced priority, and accused the lawmakers triviailising issues over more important ones.
According to the party, Nigeria’s main challenges lie in corruption, incompetence, and a lack of patriotism rather than age.
PDP Deputy National Youth Leader, Timothy Osadolor, said Nigeria’s issues are not related to age and described the lawmakers as “the most irresponsible in Nigeria’s history,’’
Osadolor said “The problem we have is that of incompetence and lack of capacity. The problem we have is that of corruption. So, instead of focusing on what the issues are, they are majoring on the minor and ‘minoring’ on the major things. It is a misnomer.”
For the CUPP, its spokesperson, Mark Adebayo, strongly rejected the notion that leadership quality is tied to age, arguing that corruption, incompetence, and lack of patriotism are Nigeria’s main governance problems.
“Even if these individuals were in their thirties, they would still behave the same way—or even worse. It’s not about age; it’s about who they are—evil, opportunistic, corrupt, and incompetent,” Adebayo stated.
On his part, the spokesperson of the SDP, Rufus Aiyenigba agrees that with youth in governance but insisted that leadership is still a function of experience, values, and competence.
“Governance is a function of age in some sense. We have had very young people in leadership positions, from the military era to today. Some performed well, others did not. Age alone does not determine leadership success,” Aiyenigba argued.
