Oyo Assembly urged to pass Not Too Young To Run bill

THE Oyo State House of Assembly has been charged to pass the bill for Not Too Young To Run in the interest of the country and its democracy.

Speaking with journalists during a press conference at the American Corner, Jericho, Ibadan

on Tuesday, Oyo State cordinator of the Not Too Young To Run movement, Gboyega Tokunbo, said Not Too Young To Run movement is a movement of youth and civil society groups advocating for the reduction of age people vying for elective offices to mainstream young men and women.

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He said the group calling on all state Houses of Assembly that are yet to pass the Not Too Young To Run movement bill to speedily do so.

He noted that Ondo State House of Assembly became the first state assembly to pass the Not Too Young To Run age reduction bill as part of the constitutional amendment.

The movement commended the House of Representatives for passing an amendment to Section 85 of the Electoral Act 2010 (as amended) to the effect that political parties are compelled to ensure the position of youth leaders must be occupied by persons between the age of 18 and 35 years.

“Followed closely by the Adamawa, Kwara, Benue and Nasarawa State house of Assembly who also passed the Not Too Young To Run bill. Borno, Delta, Enugu, Ekiti, Katsina, Yobe and Gombe state assemblies also passed bill in December 2017.

“In January 2018, the Kogi state House of Assembly passed the age reduction bill while in February 2018, the Bauchi, Jigawa, Ebonyi and Kaduna state Houses of Assembly passed the bill.

“The states listed above have been inaugurated into the Not Too Young To Run hall of fame for voting in line with aspirations of the Nigerian people.

“We call on our state assembly in Oyo State in particular to urgently pass the constitutional amendment especially the age reduction bill in the interest of Nigeria and our democracy.

“We urged the National Assembly to transmit the constitutional amendment bills to the President for assent as soon as the amendments are received from the state. Any further delay will not only undermine Nigeria’s democracy but could negatively impact on the 2019 election.

“The movement would like to register its disappointment with the Taraba State House of Assembly for voting against the age reduction bill. 11 members of the House voted against the bill making it impossible for the house to pass the bill it is unfortunate that majority of State Assembly members voted against the will of the people of Taraba despite assurances of its passage by the entire house.

“The movement will continue to mobilise more young people across the country to participate in the ongoing continuous voter registration exercise, collect their Permanent Voters Card (PVC) and turn out to vote in all election.”

Meanwhile, a member of the group, Timi Olagunju said money will fail a lot of politicians come 2019 saying people are now wise in voting right people into political office.

He said people are not going after money again but want credible candidates.