Law to be effective 2015
No tenure elongation for self
AN?official confirmation that an Executive constitutional amendment bill for a single term of office for the President and governors of the 36 states, is in the works, came from the Presidency yesterday.
Although President GoodluckJonathan did not specify the number of years he is proposing for the single term for the federal and state executives, he said the bill, when passed by the National Assembly, is to take effect from 2015 without retroactive effect.
In a statement by his Special Adviser on Media and Publicity, Dr. Reuben Abati, the President said though federal legislators will not be limited to one term like members of the Executive, the current tenure of four years would be extended "a little more."
Jonathan said the envisaged bill was part of his transformation agenda "aimed at sanitising the nation's politics."
The statement emphasised that "if the proposed amendment is accepted by the National Assembly, the President assures that he will not in any way be a beneficiary."
Below is the full statement:
"President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan is to send a Constitution Amendment Bill to the National Assembly that will provide a single tenure for the president of the Federal Republic of Nigeria and the governors of the 36 states of the Federation. In the envisaged Bill, the tenure of members of the National and State assemblies will also be a little more than four years, although lawmakers will still be eligible for re-election as their constituencies may determine.
"President Jonathan's commitment to a single term for the president and governors is borne out of a patriotic zeal, after a painstaking study and belief that the constitutionally guaranteed two terms for presidents and governors is not helping the focus of governance and institutionalisation of democracy at this stage of our development. A longer term for lawmakers would also help to stabilise the polity.
"President Jonathan is concerned about the acrimony, which the issue of re-election, every four years, generates both at the Federal and state levels. The nation is still smarting from the unrest, the desperation for power and the overheating of the polity that has attended each general election, the fall-out of all this is the unending inter and intra-party squabbles which have affected the growth of party democracy in the country, and have further undermined the country's developmental aspirations.
"In addition, the cost of conducting party primaries and the general elections have become too high for the economy to accommodate every four years. The proposed amendment Bill is necessary to consolidate our democracy and allow elected Executives to concentrate on governance and service delivery for their full term, instead of running governments with re-election as their primary focus. This clarification has become necessary in the light of certain reports in a section of the media that the proposed Bill is meant to elongate President Goodluck Jonathan's tenure.
"Nothing can be more untrue. The energy that has been devoted to speculations on the content of the likely bill is akin to an attempt to force the abortion of a non-existent pregnancy. The details of the Bill will be clear in terms of its provisions when it is forwarded to the National Assembly for consideration. The President makes it clear that his push for a single tenure for the office of the President and that of the governors is not borne out of any personal interest. The proposed amendment will not have anything to do with him as a person; what he owes Nigerians is good governance, and he is singularly committed to this. Besides, it is trite law that the envisaged amendment cannot have a retroactive effect. This means that whatever single-term tenure that is enacted into law by the National Assembly will take effect from 2015.
"The President also states that the greater good of Nigeria is greater than the ambition of any one individual. The envisaged Bill is part of the Jonathan administration's transformation agenda aimed at sanitizing the nation's politics. The President believes that this single move, when actualized, will change the face of our politics and accelerate the overall development of our nation. If the proposed amendment is accepted by the National Assembly, the President assures that he will not in any way be a beneficiary."
The debate on the possibility of a five-year single tenure for the President and state governors has remained the topical issue in political discourse in Nigeria today.
At the concluded amendment of the 1999 Constitution last year, the two chambers of the National Assembly debated on the controversial but it could not sail through.
The Nigerian Bar Association (NBA), while treading the path long used by The Patriots and the joint Constitution Review Committee of the National Assembly also joined the clamour for a five-year single tenure for Mr. President and the state governors, without success.
The debate across the continent for review of constitution to limit tenure of sitting presidents, was predicated by the sit-tight attitude of African leaders.
The former Secretary-General of the United Nations (UN), Mr. Kofi Annan, had also recently urged presidents and political leaders across Africa to stop attempting to rule forever at all costs. Rather, he urged them to step aside and allow the young and intelligent ones to run their countries.
Annan said: "It is profound shame that since independence, so many African leaders, once elected, come to believe that only they can be trusted to run their countries. The result, all too quickly, becomes government for the benefit of a ruling elite rather than society as a whole."
Although, this is not the first time the idea of a single term presidency is gathering such momentum or heated debate, however, it seems Africans are getting tired of sit tight leaders.
With Nigeria not being an exception, in the past, various Nigerian opinion leaders, including the legislators have attempted to amend the constitution to limit the tenure of Nigeria's president to one single term of five years.
At the height of the 2003 election, the Nigerian Bar Association made deliberate attempts that would ensure elected political office holders in the country would not have the chance for a second term.
In letters to both chambers of parliament, the umbrella body for Nigerian lawyers canvassed an urgent amendment to the constitution to provide for a single, five-year presidency that would extend Olusegun Obasanjo's stay in office by one year.
The NBA delegation led by its then president, Wole Olanipekun, met Obasanjo in his office and urged him not to run for a second term in the national interest.
Once more, it pressed the argument that the desperation of executives at the state and national levels to renew their tenure in office was "overheating the polity" and threatening democracy.
"Right now, the atmosphere is charged everywhere," Olanipekun told Obasanjo, "the signs are frightening and horrifying, several Nigerians have been abducted, killed, slaughtered, maimed and harassed for reasons not unconnected with the second-term syndrome."
The lawyers were not alone in expressing concern for Nigeria's democratic health. Most prominent Nigerians suggested single term in office at the heat of that debate.
But Obasanjo did not heed the calls. Instead, he told the NBA leaders their suggestion was "escapist".
He said: "I just believe we should not run away from our problems," he declared. "If the constitution says I can be here for four years and have a second term, then that is the rule of the game. And it is not fair to change the rules mid-way into the game."
Curiously, the pressures for single term presidency coincided with the submission of the report of a joint committee of the legislature reviewing the Nigerian Constitution.
The committee had also proposed a five-year, single term for the presidency and the 36 governors. Both the Senate and the House of Representatives promised then to treat the committee's recommendations with dispatch.
Seven years after that meeting and such agitation, the campaign for a single term presidency has resonated with some powerful allies. Presidential aspirants are pledging to run for a single term of four years.
Few days before his campaign officially kicked off, the Director-General of Goodluck Campaign Organisation, Dr. Dalhatu Tafida, said that President Jonathan might run for only a term in office if he is given opportunity to be elected in 2011.
Tafida said: "The President wants to run for one term. All I can say is that this is the intention of Goodluck Jonathan. But as you know, politics is not about Goodluck Jonathan, politics is not just for Nigerians within and we should give Goodluck Jonathan these four years and it is left to him to decide whether he will seek another term or not. But his intention is to run for one term.
"You must appreciate the fact that Jonathan became president not by any design but just by providence. They had a joint ticket for four years and by providence, because President Umaru Yar'Adua died, he became the President."
Few days before the declaration by the president to run for a single term, another presidential hopeful on the PDP platform, Atiku Abubakar had also promised to run for a single term in office.
The Director of Media and Publicity of his campaign organisation, Malam Garba Shehu, had said there was no doubt about his principal's desire to rule for only four years.
But President Jonathan last month brought life into the nation's political atmosphere which had been experiencing a lull for quite some time, when he came up with the proposal of a six-year single tenure for the president and governors.
The Guardian