Senate President Bukola Saraki has responded to a statement by the Not Too Young to Run movement in reaction to his declaration to run for the presidency in 2019.

Saraki on Thursday announced that he was joining the presidential race while delivering a keynote address at an event organised by the group in Abuja.

But in a swift reaction, the youth group dissociated itself from Saraki’s declaration, saying it had no prior knowledge of what he wanted to do.

It said it was shocked that the lawmaker would usurp a platform for youth engagement with political parties to declare his candidacy.

Saraki, in a statement on Friday signed by his Special Adviser on Media and Publicity, Yusuph Olaniyonu, said that his action was not to put the group in a bad position but that he made the declaration in good faith.

“It is true that the ‘Not Too Young to Run’ leadership had no prior knowledge of the content of the Senate President’s remarks,” the statement said.

“However, the announcement by the Senate President that he intends to throw his hat into the ring to contest for the Presidency was made in good faith to young aspirants of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) partly as a symbolic act of encouragement.

“It was not the intent of the Senate President to put the group or its leadership in an invidious position.”

The Senate President explained that the occasion where he declared his intention to run for the presidency was first in a series of dialogues organised by Not Too Young to Run along party lines.

He said the first was for young aspirants on the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) while the subsequent ones were designed for those of the All Progressives Congress (APC) and other parties.

He, however, appreciated the contribution of Not Too Young to Run to the development of the nation’s democracy.