'Age Should not be a Barrier During Elections' Says Showunmi.

Segun Showunmi

Methuselah Was 969, Atiku, Tinubu Are in Their 70s Like Biden, Reagan and Others;  

The Bill We Signed Reads Not Too Young To Run, Not the Elderly Must Die.

When president Buhari signed the Not Too Young To Run bill on 31st of May 2018, it was a welcomed development as it lowered the age to give more access to those wanting to contest. I do not see any clause in it that says age is now a disease or an impediment to anyone aspiring to be anything in our country, Nigeria. 

I have listened and watched with nauseating amusement, the fixation on age as the only parameter, especially to the high office of the presidency, under some silly assumption that the presidency of Nigeria is a stone quarry where the occupant is expected to use Stone Age Tools to chip mountains into chips for building. Hello friends, get busy and come to the table with ideas and snap out of these bully tactics directed at the elderly. No one, and I repeat, no one, is stopping anybody from aspiring for any office of their liking. We do not have an age ceiling on eligibility to contest. 

I have seen wet trees die while the dry ones live much longer, the mortality experience of humans does not justify this lazy frenzy. Do the young not die just as much as the elders? Do the infirmities of health not affect all humans? I don’t get it. 

Thankfully each and everyone that is qualified is free to aspire. The reality of what the contest demands will manage the garrulousness of infantile lackeys of the kindergarten wannabes. 

So it is Waziri Atiku Abubakar or Asiwaju Bola Tinubu that these lots are hoping to bully of their ambitions with the screaming and shouting about age. 

Shall we not examine their scorecards on the assignments and opportunities granted them. 

We know those younger leaders that can bring something to the table, and we know the unstable over-ambitious office seekers who are simply deceiving themselves. Time will tell. 

Their story is like that of the leach that wants to kill the dog it feeds on, forgetting that once the dog dies, the leach will cease to exist. 

If Atiku Abubakar is often in the news while the consultation is still ongoing, I tell you again he will be one of the issues in the build-up to 2023. 

When nations are looking for leadership in a democracy, they look for who can get the job done. In our case, the demand is more, for we will be on a fools gambit to think the challenges the country faces is child’s play. 

Some of the big issues before us are 

1. Structure of the federation. The issues are deep rooted in old suspicions and animosities. A deep knowledge of the historical background will be required. It calls for some experience. 

2. High stake international renegotiation of our debt obligations. Be not deceived, serious influence and access which comes from long term participation in such, creates an advantage, this yields to experience too.

3. Putting together a team that accommodates our diversity requires a reasonable knowledge of the country and the players. 

4. Security. It is very easy to think some knowledge and experience on troops deployment is not required. I hold the view that it is. 

Enjoy yourselves, kids. Your elders are busy on the field.