The former President, Dr Goodluck Jonathan, says over-praising sitting presidents makes them feel like a little god and makes it unthinkable for them to leave office.
Jonathan said this, yesterday, at the Constitutional Term Limits Summit in Niamey, Niger Republic.
Jonathan, who is one of the speakers at the summit organised by the National Democratic Institute (NDI), also said the fear of persecution after office makes it difficult for a sitting president to relinquish power.
“Let’s create an environment where people will believe there’s life after office. That if you leave office, you should not be persecuted,” he said.
“The way we manage ourselves as sitting presidents and former presidents matter. The first line is to reduce what will make a sitting president afraid to leave office.
“Africans sometimes, we are our own problem because we always think our presidents are little gods.
“That somebody is president does not mean he is God. We have a tradition of praise-singing. We tend to give our presidents name they don’t deserve.
“We tend to over-praise sitting presidents and make them think they are little gods. When they begin to make a sitting president think he is God, and he is the only person that can run the affairs of the nation; then the person will be there; nobody removes God.
“When you make a president feel he is god, don’t expect him to leave. The media and civil society must continue to admonish characters that make presidents think they are the best thing to happen.
“That you are president does not mean you are better than others. We citizens of this continent create little gods, and God cannot leave (power).”
Jonathan also said that a four-year-tenure was too short for any president to make meaningful impact on the country.
He also said there was no need for any president to remain in power for upward of 14 years, since the country was not his private estate.
Jonathan said the conduct of elections every four years was too expensive that it could constitute a distraction to performance.
He made veiled reference to Nigeria, where people are already discussing 2023 elections, barely months after the 2019 elections.
According to him, this can distract any president with a four-year-tenure in office, especially in the developing world.
He noted that conducting elections every four years was too burdensome for countries, especially developing countries, stressing that it was also too distracting for the president in power.
He said: “When Prof Wade (Senegal) was in his last tenure, he changed the constitution and extended the term limits from five to seven years.
‘’He thought he would win the election. But Macky Sall reduced it to five years. We must commend dynamic leaders like that.
“There is no need for one person to sit for 14 years, doing what? The country is not your personal estate. Countries are free to amend their laws. Just like the president of Niger Republic said, different nations have different ways of doing things, so it is better they have their own way of doing things. I agree to that.
“Most countries in Africa emulate America that is a stable country, and take four years as tenure. Such countries include Nigeria, Kenya and Ghana.
“Four years is quite a short period for a country that is developing for a person who wants to change the country to do much.
‘’In Nigeria, we just finished the election and some people are already talking about 2023 election. It is distracting.
“That is why some people come with the idea of a single tenure; so a president can sit down and plan all his programmes for the good of the country.
‘’We are too distracted with these elections. Why must we waste money every four years to elect a leader? Those are the things that agitate our minds.”
The ex-president had, during his tenure, canvassed a six-year single tenure for Nigeria’s president but he was pilloried by many stakeholders who argued that his recommendation was an attempt to perpetuate himself in office.
Jonathan was defeated by the incumbent President, Muhammadu Buhari, in the 2015 elections and remained the first incumbent to be defeated in an election in Nigeria.
Meanwhile, the Senior Pastor of the Awaiting The Second Coming Of Jesus Christ Gospel Church, Adewale Giwa, has urged those praising former President Goodluck Jonathan to stop it, saying president Muhammadu Buhari would not have come in if Jonathan had done well.
Giwa stated this in a statement made available to newsmen, yesterday.
The cleric said, though Nigerians were aware of Buhari’s antecedents when he was a military president, but there was no option left than to sacrifice Jonathan for Buhari.
According to Giwa, former president Jonathan had the opportunity to turn Nigeria around but he failed to do so.