By Khadijat Saidu, Birnin Kebbi
A Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN) Yakubu Maikyau has advocated for amendment of the Constitution to pave way for independent candidacy and review of age for all the elective positions.
Maikyau,who stated this during the House of Representative committee on Constitution review of the North-West centre in Birnin Kebbi, insisted such amendment could pave way for talented youths, women and persons with disability to contest for any political positions.
Buttressing his argument, he said: “We all know how expensive it is to run for an elective office under the Constitution, except on the platform of a political party; candidates for elective offices must be sponsored by political parties.
“Clearly, there is no room for independent candidate under the present constitution. It follows that, a youth, woman or person with disability, who cannot scale the hurdles to secure a ticket on a political party, can never express his or her political aspiration.
“A person should be at liberty, if dissatisfied about the conduct of any political party, leave to contest election as an independent candidate”.
Maikyau, also argued for the amendment of section 223(1) of the Constitution to ensure that not less than half of those elected, appointed into the Executive Committee or other Governing bodies of political parties, must comprise the youths, women and persons with disabilities.
” By this, policies of political parties will always be structured to cater for these critical and important members of our society, in whose hands the future of the nation Nigeria largely depends,”he said.
He also advocated that the all inclusive Constitution concept of Federal Character must be expanded to accommodate this level of participation of youths, women and persons with disabilities.
