Jonathan Seeks Six-yr Tenure For President, Govs

Apparently determined to erase the acrimony often associated with the issue of re-election into public offices in Nigeria, President Goodluck Jonathan would soon forward a Constitution Amendment Bill to the National Assembly that would stipulate a single tenure for both president and state governors.

According to a statement issued in Abuja by the Special Adviser to the President (Media and Publicity), Dr Reuben Abati, President Jonathan has assured that he would not be a beneficiary of the single tenure when the law becomes operational.

Abati disclosed that in the envisaged Bill, the tenure of members of the National and State Assemblies will also be a little more than four years, adding that “although lawmakers will still be eligible for re-election as their constituencies may determine.”

He explained that the proposed amendment became imperative following the realisation that the quest for re-election by incumbent office holders was distracting the occupants of such offices.

“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”, he explained.

President Jonathan, Abati stated, is concerned about the acrimony which the issue of re-election every four years, generates both at the Federal and State levels.

He lamented that the nation is still smarting from the unrest, the desperation for power and the overheating of the polity that  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.

Another reason for seeking the amendment, the presidential adviser explained, was the cost of conducting party primaries and the general elections, which President Jonathan complained 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 added.

Abati said the clarification over the introduction of the amendment bill by President Jonathan has become necessary considering insinuations that he was plotting to extend his term in office.

“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″, he stated.

President Jonathan, he assured would always subsume his ambition in the need to attain a greater good for the country.

His words: “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 sanitising the nation’s politics.

The President believes that this single move, when actualised, 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”.

There are however insinuations in some quarters that the amendment was a plot by the president to secure another term in office, owing to the fact that the constitution when amended would not bar him from contesting in the next election.

Rivers State Governor, Rt. Hon. Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi (right) explaining a point to the Director-General of Security and Exchange Commission, Ms Arumna Oteh and members of her team, during an inspection visit to project sites in Rivers State, yesterday.