2019: Party primaries were not democratic, transparent - Youth group

- The Not Too Young To Run movement has reacted to the political parties' primaries held recently

- The movement stated that they followed the conduct of the primaries to assess the role of the political parties in promoting youth candidacy

- The group lamented that the primaries were not free, fair and democratic across all parties

The Not Too Young To Run movement has called on political parties to ensure that the grievances of young aspirants during the primaries are as a matter of urgency heard and addressed immediately to ensure justice.

The youth observer group made the demand on Monday, October 15, in Abuja, during a press briefing on the conduct of political party primaries for the 2019 general elections.

Speaking at the briefing, co-conveners; Cynthia Mbamalu, Hamzat Lawal, Ibrahim Farouk and others, raised issues around unjust screening of aspirants, money politics, high cost of nomination forms, exclusion of young men and women among others.

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The movement also demanded;

2. That political parties support youth candidates to ensure that they emerge victorious in the election;

3. That the courts treat as urgent, pre-election matters and expediently hears and give their decision on pre-election cases before the court.

4. That the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) makes public the report from the monitoring of the party primaries clearly highlighting the votes of each aspirant from the primaries

5. That young men and women candidates who successfully emerged from the primaries remain vigilant to ensure that they are not substituted at the point of transmission of candidates lists to INEC;

6. That voters should be guided by their conscience and do not vote for parties that do not represent youth interest;

7. That voters remain objective in voting for young women and young men with character, competence and capacity regardless of their party affiliation.

The group warned that any attempt “to further substitute names of young candidates who have secured their party nomination will attract political consequences.

“The movement will continually celebrate and support youth candidates across all parties who have secured their party nomination.”

The group further reaffirmed that it is non-partisan and a citizen-led movement, “dedicated to the defense of democracy, political inclusion and transformative leadership,” adding that “the movement will not endorse any candidate or political party for any reason.”

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The Not Too Young To Run movement had earlier kicked against the imposition of candidates under the guise of automatic tickets and consensus candidacy in political parties primary elections nationwide ahead of the 2019 polls.

In a statement sent to NAIJ.com on Monday, October 1, the movement expressed worry that the development will be a major threat to the participation of youth, women and persons with disability in politics.

According to the group, the imposition of candidates and issuance of automatic tickets reflect a lack of respect for democratic principles and norms, adding that it reduces the competitiveness of electoral politics in Nigeria.

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Source: Naija.ng