President Goodluck Jonathan’s
re-election bid may be hanging in the balance, following the insistence of the
Senate Committee on the Amendment of the 1999 Constitution that the single term
proposal must begin in 2015.
Deputy Senate President, Ike
Ekweremadu, said in an exclusive
interview that the date would not be changed because there was no indication
that Jonathan was intent on seeking a second term.
He was reacting to comments by the
Political Adviser to the President, Ahmed Gulak, who was quoted as saying that
the single tenure proposal was targeted at the President and first term
governors.
Gulak had in an interview, said, “You
can’t short-change some people in the name of amending the constitution. I’m
sure there will be some considerations and the proposal will fail.
“The President and some governors
were elected under a constitution that allows them to contest two terms of four
years each. You can’t change the rule midway.”
Also on Monday, Gulak said the
Presidency would support the amendment, if it would take effect in 2019, thus
allowing Jonathan to contest the 2015 presidential election.
Gulak, who spoke on a Channels
Television programme, said, “The committee’s proposal is that those incumbent
governors and the President who are supposed to enjoy a second term will not
participate.
“What we are saying is that laws are
not amended to target a particular group of people. It could have been okay, if
all those first term governors are allowed to participate, and after 2019,
anybody coming in will know that he is going to be elected under the amended
constitution.”
But, Ekweremadu, who is the chairman
of the committee, said the President had not told anybody he would contest the
2015 election.
He added that the proposed amendment
could not, therefore, be targeted at him.
Ekweremadu spoke to one of our
correspondents in an exclusive telephone interview from London on Tuesday.
But responding to Gulak on Tuesday,
Ekweremadu said that it would be begging the question for the committee to
target an individual, who had yet to tell anyone he was running in 2015.
He said, “President Jonathan has not
told anybody that he wants to run in 2015, has he? He has not told anybody so,
why are we speculating?
“If the President is running in 2015,
at the appropriate time, he will make up his mind. Our proposal wouldn’t have
been targeted at somebody who has not said he is running in 2015.
“Please let us leave Mr. President
out of the present scenario. The issue is whether it is good for Nigeria or
not. If it is good for Nigeria, the President, I know, will respect it.
“The argument should be: will it
serve the best interest of Nigerians and help promote our democracy? Will it
engender sustainability in the system?
“If the answer is yes, I think the
President will not have any problem with it. But if the answer is no, every
other person including the President will have a problem with it.
“Let us be objective and not subject
it to people’s whims and caprices. It is the people’s assessment of the recommendation
that I think will help us.
“Once we begin to have a subjective
assessment of it, we are going to run into problems.”
Also speaking on the same subject, a
member of the committee, Senator Adegbenga Kaka (Ogun East), wondered why there
was so much fuss about the single tenure, whose idea was first broached by the
President himself.
He said, “I don’t know what our
problem is in this country. As early as 2011, it was President Goodluck
Jonathan who first proposed a single term that would preclude him from the
race.
“If it was proposed, and our
committee included it in its proposals to the Senate, what is the issue?
“We, like most Nigerians, agree that
the cost of running elections in this country is too high, what we have done is
simply to say, instead of spending so much money, in fact wasting so much money
on re-elections, let us do things differently.
“This money can put to better use by
improving the lives of our people. We should look at the message and stop
looking at the messenger.
“Some of us are even of the view that
we should jettison the presidential system of government and go back to the
parliamentary system.
“We have only made recommendations,
we will go back to plenary where our colleagues will make their input.
“Even after this, it will still go to
the states for further input. So, it is not something that is cast in stone.”
Tags
Politics
Why do the Nigerian politicians like to deviate from the norm. Why do they always like to over pepper and salt their cooking. The Nation is faced with serious security and economic challenges they could debate and tackle head on rather they are waisting time on 6 year single term tenure for the president.
ReplyDeleteThese guys don't know that when you elect a president with the knowledge of serving one term, they could use that chance to loot or become a tyrant. Democracy works better when you give them the hope to run again or be voted out if they fail to perform in their first 4 year term.
This is working in the USA and other free world.
I kind of support a single 6 yr tenure. but INEC must be independent. for some reasosn.
ReplyDelete1 . If the outgoing official does not perform , the people will vote in an opposition part who will eventually probe the outgone
2. Almost every elected official spends 8 years in the current 4 yr double term , that looks like monarchy
3.It will create an enviroment where officials will work to leave a legacy and not work to be re- elected and this will engender long term development.
etc