Eminent Nigerians meet on Six-year single term

Eminent Nigerians meet on Six-year single term
 

Eminent Nigerians will meet on Tuesday, in Lagos, Southwest Nigeria, to discuss the modalities for the proposed single tenure for the President and state Governors.
 
The meeting will also avail the opportunity to critically examine the proposal, bearing in mind its pros and cons.
 
The proposed single six-year tenure bill by President Goodluck Jonathan has generated many controversies since Tuesday last week.

According to the executive bill proposal to be submitted to the National Assembly, the President had proposed a constitution amendment bill seeking a single term of six years for the President and Governors of the 36 states, but pledged he would not benefit from such a law.
 
The Provisions
 
The president's Special Adviser on Media and Publicity, Dr. Reuben Abati, was quoted as saying that "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."
 
The proposed amendment is not about tenure elongation, as it will not have a retroactive effect. When passed into law, it is expected to take effect from 2015, after the President must have completed his tenure.
 
Reassurance
 
An official statement from the office of the President stated that; “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 his person; what he owes Nigeria 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.”

Pros and cons of the proposal
 
The President, through his media Special Adviser, noted that the move was predicted on the fact that the President "is concerned about the acrimony which the issue of re-election, every four years, generates both at the federal and state levels." And that "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 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,” Abati said.
 
Media Reports say that although President Jonathan has directed government lawyers to include transitional clause to ensure that he was excluded from the 2015 presidential race, the bill has continued to receive more knocks, as the Congress of Nigerian Political Parties (CNPP) disclosed it would fight it to the last.
 
According to the former Chairman of All Progressive Grand Alliance (APGA), Chekwas okorie, the proposal presented by the People Democratic Party (PDP), was earlier rejected by opposition parties in the Inter-Party Consultative committee on electoral reforms set up by the late President, Umaru Yar’Adua in 2008.
 
He said that public office holders elected for a single term could ignore the wishes and expectations of the electorate since they would not go back to them for re-election.
 
Fate of nine governors in 2015 elections
 
It is also reported that the bill will decide the fate of nine governors eligible for second term in 2015. Such governors include;  Bukar Shetima (Borno), Ibrahim Dankwabo (Gombe), Ibikunle Amosun (Ogun), Abiola Ajimobi (Oyo), Rochas Okorocha (Imo), Rabiu Kwakwanso (Kano), Abdulfattah Ahmed (Kwara), Tanko Al-Makura (Nassarawa) and Abdulazeez Yari (Zamfara).
 
In fact, it was gathered that the president instructed that the transitional clause in the bill should state in specific terms whether the governors could contest 2015 gubernatorial elections or not.
 
Although the fate of the nine governors has not been determined, there is a suggestion that the governors should be allowed to go for a second term of four years,” according to reports.
 
 
Newspaper/Emma/Williams