The Coalition of Northern Groups has denied asking politicians above 70 years to abstain from contesting the 2019 presidential election.
News reports had claimed that the coalition asked politicians, including Muhammadu Buhari and former Vice President Atiku Abubakar, not to seek election owing to age factor.
However, in a statement issued on Wednesday by its spokesperson, Abdul-Azeez Suleiman, the coalition said the communiqué it issued on May 21, 2018 centred on its support for the restructuring of Nigeria, but with a caveat that those to represent the North in any debate concerning it should not be above 60 years old.
Suleiman said: “Our Coalition said the North supported structural reforms, with certain conditions. One of the terms was that those who will carry the banner to any future discussion with regards to Nigerian federal arrangement should be within the 18 to 60 years bracket.
“We said this out of a patriotic conviction that the older men who have been speaking and running the country since independence should cease to take the front seats at such national discourses.
“The Coalition was however quite surprised by some reports by a section of the media tending to suggest that we have asked certain aspirants to the 2019 presidency to shelve their ambition.
“We wish to respond here, that at no time did the individual aspiration of any politician ever came up at our two-day Summit nor was it mentioned anywhere in the communiqué we read.
