Three young Nigerians emerge legislators-elect

Saturday’s governorship and House of Assembly elections saw the emergence of three legislators in their 20s.

According to reports, the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, declared 26-year-old Rasheed Kashamu the House of Assembly election winner in Ijebu North Constituency 1 in Ogun State.

Kashamu, the son of the late Senator Kashamu, polled 10,004 votes to displace the incumbent from the All Progressives Party, APC.

A similar feat was achieved in Kwara State, a 26-year-old, Rukayat Shittu, was declared winner as a fresh member of the state House of Assembly.

Also, Muhammad Adamu Oyanki has been declared among the youngest elected legislators in the just concluded HoA elections.

Oyanki won the State House of Assembly seat for Doma North Constituency on the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party in Nasarawa State.

The development is a boost for Nigeria’s not-too-young-to-run bill initiative to encourage the participation of young Nigerians in politics.

In May 2018, President Muhammadu signed the not-too-young-to-run bill into law, a constitutional amendment pushed by young Nigerians which led to a reduction in the age requirement of running for elective positions in the House of Assembly and House of Representatives from 30 to 25 years, Senate and Governorship from 35 to 30 years and office of the President from 40 to 30 years and independent candidates in Nigeria.

In the build-up to the general elections, INEC had said that there were 93,469,008 voters for the 2023 elections; of this figure, 37,060,399 or 39.65 per cent of voters are between the ages of 18 and 34.