Contrary to speculations that the Presidency has
dropped its plan to forward a bill to the National Assembly to push for a
single tenure of six years for the president and governors, it is
actually intensifying work on the planned bill.
SATURDAY PUNCH investigations showed that President Goodluck Jonathan and his key supporters were working assiduously to convince federal lawmakers and the governors to embrace the single tenure idea.
It was learnt that the President was not alone in the ongoing plan to amend the constitution that would allow the tenure of the president and governors to be altered from 2015 to a single term, as against the current two terms of four years.
Jonathan is believed to have recruited several lawmakers and some of the state governors who share his views to his side.
A source, on the condition of anonymity, stated that the President was keen on pursuing the single tenure project because he was convinced that a single term for this category of public office holders would serve the interest of Nigeria. The source argued that it was the shared view in government circle that the opposition to the proposed single tenure issue was inspired by an unfounded mistrust.
According to a source close to the President, Jonathan has some loyalists, who are also mobilising to get the support of people in strategic places to embrace the President’s idea.
This position contradicted reports that the Presidency had taken a decision to drop its single tenure project because of the opposition presented by the critics of the move.
“And you believe that? And can you believe that the President has suspended the plan because of the opposition to his position?” a top Presidency official asked SATURDAY PUNCH on Friday in Abuja.
He said, “Look, this man is the President of Nigeria and I think he has every right to make recommendations on important issues and that is what he has done.
“The President has not even forwarded the bill to the National Assembly and they are making all this noise.
“I can assure you that people have not heard the last of the issue. The President will forward a bill to the National Assembly and if the National Assembly does not want, then so be it. It is the lawmakers and indeed Nigerians that will decide.
“The President is not the type that would chicken out just like that.”
Another source reluctantly said on Friday in Abuja that it was not true that the President had dropped the idea of the single term of six years.
A top government functionary, who confided in our correspondent, argued that the beauty of the President’s recommendation was that he was being attacked because of the culture in the society, where leaders failed to keep their promises.
He said that most of the people who had come out to criticise the President’s planned bill were doing so because they were doubtful that the President would fulfil his promise that he would go in 2015.
He urged those opposing the President’s recommendation to note that Jonathan is a man of his words and would not stay in power beyond 2015 when his tenure is expected to end.
He said that Jonathan’s recommendation was a product of the experience of a man who rose from deputy governor to become the President.
He said the President’s postulation was that the existing arrangement of two terms of four years was an impediment to the expected level of concentration in governance.
He said that a governor or president elected for a single term of six years would not go through the worry of re-election and the diversion of attention that was the lot of a governor focused on re-election.
“On this issue of a single tenure of six years for the president and governors, the President is speaking from his wealth of experience as a man who was a deputy governor, governor, Vice-President and President of Nigeria,” the official added.
“When a governor is elected for the first time in this arrangement, he begins to worry about re-election just a year into his election. Some people will come out to challenge him and condemn him so that the governor would be made to abandon governance for politics.
“The situation is different from when somebody is elected for a single tenure of six years. As for the argument that such a person might become dictatorial, six years is too short a time for one to become a dictator.”
By Niyi Odebode and Fidelis Soriwei, Abuja Courtesy Of: Punch
SATURDAY PUNCH investigations showed that President Goodluck Jonathan and his key supporters were working assiduously to convince federal lawmakers and the governors to embrace the single tenure idea.
It was learnt that the President was not alone in the ongoing plan to amend the constitution that would allow the tenure of the president and governors to be altered from 2015 to a single term, as against the current two terms of four years.
Jonathan is believed to have recruited several lawmakers and some of the state governors who share his views to his side.
A source, on the condition of anonymity, stated that the President was keen on pursuing the single tenure project because he was convinced that a single term for this category of public office holders would serve the interest of Nigeria. The source argued that it was the shared view in government circle that the opposition to the proposed single tenure issue was inspired by an unfounded mistrust.
According to a source close to the President, Jonathan has some loyalists, who are also mobilising to get the support of people in strategic places to embrace the President’s idea.
This position contradicted reports that the Presidency had taken a decision to drop its single tenure project because of the opposition presented by the critics of the move.
“And you believe that? And can you believe that the President has suspended the plan because of the opposition to his position?” a top Presidency official asked SATURDAY PUNCH on Friday in Abuja.
He said, “Look, this man is the President of Nigeria and I think he has every right to make recommendations on important issues and that is what he has done.
“The President has not even forwarded the bill to the National Assembly and they are making all this noise.
“I can assure you that people have not heard the last of the issue. The President will forward a bill to the National Assembly and if the National Assembly does not want, then so be it. It is the lawmakers and indeed Nigerians that will decide.
“The President is not the type that would chicken out just like that.”
Another source reluctantly said on Friday in Abuja that it was not true that the President had dropped the idea of the single term of six years.
A top government functionary, who confided in our correspondent, argued that the beauty of the President’s recommendation was that he was being attacked because of the culture in the society, where leaders failed to keep their promises.
He said that most of the people who had come out to criticise the President’s planned bill were doing so because they were doubtful that the President would fulfil his promise that he would go in 2015.
He urged those opposing the President’s recommendation to note that Jonathan is a man of his words and would not stay in power beyond 2015 when his tenure is expected to end.
He said that Jonathan’s recommendation was a product of the experience of a man who rose from deputy governor to become the President.
He said the President’s postulation was that the existing arrangement of two terms of four years was an impediment to the expected level of concentration in governance.
He said that a governor or president elected for a single term of six years would not go through the worry of re-election and the diversion of attention that was the lot of a governor focused on re-election.
“On this issue of a single tenure of six years for the president and governors, the President is speaking from his wealth of experience as a man who was a deputy governor, governor, Vice-President and President of Nigeria,” the official added.
“When a governor is elected for the first time in this arrangement, he begins to worry about re-election just a year into his election. Some people will come out to challenge him and condemn him so that the governor would be made to abandon governance for politics.
“The situation is different from when somebody is elected for a single tenure of six years. As for the argument that such a person might become dictatorial, six years is too short a time for one to become a dictator.”
By Niyi Odebode and Fidelis Soriwei, Abuja Courtesy Of: Punch
No comments:
Post a Comment