Does age really matter in the contest for the presidency?
This is one of the issues that have taken central stage as the February 14 presidential election is just a little over three weeks away. The interest on this subject arose essentially because of the age of the All Progressives Congress presidential candidate Muhammadu Buhari, who is 72. Many Nigerians, especially opposed to Buhari’s Candidacy, raise question about this. They argue that given the enormous responsibilities borne by the occupant of the office of the presidency should be a much younger person than that.
Some wonder if there is no younger leaders in Nigeria that a person like Buhari, who was head of state of the country before, is being re-cycled, when it is obvious that his body could hardly withstand the stress of the coveted office.
Immediate past Governor of Anambra State, Peter Obi, recently underscored this vexed question. For him, it is preposterous to make any such proposition.
Obi wants Nigerians to emulate progressive countries like the United States and United Kingdom which have never elected a president above 70 years of age since the inception of democracy in their countries. He said the oldest person ever elected as the US president was Ronald Reagan at the age of 68.
According to him, “The All Progressives Congress does not wish the country well, or else why would the party be agitating for the election of a 73-year-old former Head of State. In a world, where a life-changing protest for democratic change, the demand for free and fair democracy without Chinese interference was led by a 17-year-old boy in Hong Kong, APC is threatening to inflict a 73-year-old grandfather on Nigeria as president.
“Do you realise that the major search engines and social networks of the world, like Google intimate(1998), Yahoo (1994), Ebay (1995), Facebook (2004) and Alibaba were all founded by young people less than 40 years? Most of the captains of industry in Nigeria today are led by men and women who were not yet in primary school 31 years ago when Buhari’s wasstate.”
For Obi, it will amount a to a dangerous gambit to foist Buhari on Nigerians at 72 plus.He said that no reason justifies such contemplation.
The former governor said that even if all the new-found qualities attributed to Buhari were true (which they are not), it does justify such action. Citing examples with well-respected former leaders across the globe, he maintained that their performance in the past had not warranted their recall to office.
“The Singaporeans are not asking Lee Kwuan Yu to come back. Malaysians are not asking Mahathir Mohamad to come back. The Americans are also not asking Bill Clinton, who came to office 10 years after Buhari’s first outing and who had the best economic performance in the 21st century, to come back. Areq we saying that Nigeria has not produced anyone who can do the job today?” He asked.
Some APC leaders are raising concerns that such question is being asked. They tend to suggest that it is not legitimate or necessary. But that has not dissuaded those who believe that any person who is aspiring to the high of presidency in the country should be ready to be evaluated and his experience, mannerism and disposition properly considered.
