Nigeria's leader to lower age limits for elected officials

LAGOS, Nigeria – Nigeria's president says he will soon sign a law to lower the age qualifications for elected officials.

President Muhammadu Buhari says in a nationwide broadcast to mark the country's Democracy Day that the new law will lower the minimum age qualification for president from 40 to 35. The age limit for governors and senators will be lowered from 35 to 30.

In a country where a majority of citizens are 30 years old or younger, there has been growing clamor for more inclusion in politics.

The president says the law will be signed in a few days.

Buhari will seek re-election next year. Many in Nigeria have called on the 75-year-old president to step down because of his age and ill health. The presidency has no upper age limit.