Buhari signs ‘Not Too Young To Run Bill’ into Law; Urges Youths to Wait until after 2019 before contesting for President.

President Muhammadu Buhari has signed the Not-Too-Young-To-Run Bill into law.

Buhari signed the bill into law on Thursday at the Council Chambers of the Presidential Villa, Abuja, barely two days after he promised to do so.

The law reduces the age qualification for president from 40 to 30; governor from 35 to 30; senator from 35 to 30; House of Representatives membership from 30 to 25 and State House of Assembly membership from 30 to 25.

In his Democracy Day address on Tuesday, the President had promised to sign the bill into law “in a few days’ time.”

The National Assembly had passed the bill last year, altering sections 65, 106, 131, 177 of the Constitution to reduce the constitutional age requisition for president from 40 to 30; that of the governor from 35 to 30.

The Senator is now altered from 35 to 30; House of Representatives membership from 30 to 25 and State House of Assembly membership from 30 to 25.

Speaking while signing the bill, the President urged Nigerian youths to postpone their presidential ambitions till after 2019.

He described the bill as a landmark law, noting that the bill showed that the youth can achieve anything they conceive if they work hard at it.

The signing took place at the Council Chamber of the Aso Rock Villa, in the presence of the NTYTR group of under-35 young Nigerians drawn from across the country, led by Mr. Samson Itodo.

In his remarks after signing the law, Buhari canvassed for additional amendment to reduce the age limits for aspiring governors and senators, which was proposed but not reflected in the final bill he had just signed into law.

He said the signing of the bill was not the end of the journey but the beginning of more work to be done to get younger persons into government.