Northern Elders Reject 6-Year Single Tenure For President, Govs

[Shola Sholaz]

As anxiety continues to mount over the propriety of the proposed six-year single tenure for president and governors in Nigeria, the Northern Elders' Forum, NEF, yesterday, voiced its opposition to the plan, saying that it was unacceptable to the people of the region. NEF's Secretary, Prof. Ango Abdullahi, said:
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"We in the north remain stoutly opposed to the proposal and will never support it because it is a double-edged sword that can make a tyrannical president to continuously oppress the defenceless citizenry without any remedy.
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"If you have a bad president, who does not believe in the welfare and progress of the nation, it means that the people would have no way of asking him to step aside until the end of the gruesome six year tenure.
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"To us, what is important is that whether the NSGF is alive or dead, the northern people will remain alert and alive in their bid to get their political right come 2015."