Chairman of the Senate Committee on Review of the Constitution, Senator Ike Ekweremadu, has said if the committee’s recommendation on single tenure succeeds, President Goodluck Jonathan will sacrifice his presidential ambition in 2015.

Ekweremadu, who is the Deputy Senate President, also said some governors would sacrifice their second term ambitions in 2015.

He stated this in Abuja on Thursday while explaining the fate of the President and some governors on the proposed six-year single tenure amendment to the 1999 Constitution.

The deputy senate President said, “For us, it would have been easy to say let’s put it six years and let whoever wants, including those who are available now, let them benefit, so long as it will help in keeping overheating the system away.

“But we don’t want Nigerians to say that we have colluded with the executive to give tenure elongation to the President and certain governors. That means somebody instead of staying for eight years; he will now be staying for 10 years.

“I think it will be easier for someone to deal with the issue of making a sacrifice than for someone to have the period for 10 years; I am not sure what our colleagues will say. If they say that those who are there now should benefit, that is fine. Those who are currently serving should be able to excuse themselves and say we make this sacrifice on behalf of the system.”

Ekweremadu recalled that the President was one of the persons that called for a single tenure of six or seven years.

The deputy senate president said, “He (Jonathan) was grossly misunderstood. They were saying he wanted to get a third term; he wanted to elongate his tenure and all kinds of things were said.”

He also said his committee did not insert a specific time frame when the amendments would take effect.

Ekweremadu added that the constitution would take effect as soon as the requirement for the passage of each amendment clause was met.

He said, “Since we did not provide for any particular date, it means that as soon as the Constitution is passed, it starts; that is the implication.

“Unless you are suggesting that we put the time frame when it will start, but in the last amendment to the Constitution, we did not put any time frame for its take off, we also did not put in this one.”

He argued that it was certain with the current amendment that the President’s assent was not required to authenticate amendments to the Constitution.

According to him, it is an absurdity for the President to sign the amendments given that two thirds of the members of the National Assembly had been secured, which is the same requirement for overriding the President’s veto.

He noted that since the state assemblies also passed the amendments by two thirds, it would mean that the bill would be sent to the state governors for their signature since the law required the governors to sign bills passed by the state assemblies.

With regard to the new Section 136 relating to the Vice-President succeeding the President in the case of death, Elweremadu explained that the new provision bars the Vice President from running to succeed him, after completing the six year single tenure of the President.

He said, “You will recall that in Venezuela, when the President died, their constitution provides that the Vice President does not automatically take over. Fresh elections take place that option was available to us, but we considered the cost of elections.

“No democracy looked like the other one, we had to look inwards to see the one that works for us and we said the President dies and if the Vice President can finish the tenure; and having completed the term, there should be no extra mile to get himself back to the office that normally causes crisis.”

Ekweremadu also restated his views that having state police was the best for the country, with its vast population and size.

He however said it had to be droped because of the majority views, arguing that although he was Chairman of the committee, his business was to articulate the views of members of the committee and that of Nigerians.



Source Punchng.com

Ok

Nigerian Democracy

1999-2013

RIP

I hate a single term, it kills the joy in politics. A good performer should be allowed to run for a second term. However and, moreover as an African nation still developing, 2 terms of 5 or 6 years like what obtains in Kenya would be good for us rather than the 4 years we have at the moment. Single term encourages mediocrity, the Governors and the President would be all out to enrich themselves at the first instance, which negates development and democratic principles. I can understand the fears of some tribes feeling alienated, but the truth is the Presidency and Governorship post are positions one should see and view as an "act of God" , you cannot wake up one day and tell your dad as young boy or girl that what you want to be when you grow up is become a Governor or President just like telling your parents you want to be a lawyer or an engineer, It is the grace of God that helps any individual achieve such a post.

The problem we have in Nigeria is we see these positions as a means to enrich ourselves hence why the position of Governors and that of the President is a do or die affair. What stops a Governor or President from working for the citizenry in general rather than for his people, his tribe or region. we need strong institutions not strong men or women, if the minimum pay for instance is made to be N100,000.00 a month and the policy was made effective by a sitting President through his manifesto, who is the direct beneficiary of this policy, is it the igbo's?, hausa's?, yoruba's? or any other tribe, no one tribe is the beneficiary, Nigerians in general would benefit and in the same token Nigerians in general should be allowed to re-elect such a person if need be.

Politics is about putting in place policies affecting the common man's pocket, life style and general well-being.

To me this is just a bait. It is full deceit. A law cannot be made retroactive, Jonathan and the governors signed for a possible 2 year tenor of 4 years each, so any new change in tenor cannot apply to them. If the laws makers insists of the new law being retroactive, all the governors and Jonathan need to do is go to court, they cannot lose.

KnowAll: I hate a single term, it kills the joy in politics. A good performer should be allowed to run for a second term. However and, moreover as an African nation still developing, 2 terms of 5 or 6 years like what obtains in Kenya would be good for us rather than the 4 years we have at the moment. Single term encourages mediocrity, the Governors and the President would be all out to enrich themselves at the first instance, which negates development and democratic principles. I can understand the fears of some tribes feeling alienated, but the truth is the Presidency and Governorship post are positions one should see and view as an "act of God" , you cannot wake up one day and tell your dad as young boy or girl that what you want to be when you grow up is become a Governor or President just like telling your parents you want to be a lawyer or an engineer, It is the grace of God that helps any individual achieve such a post.

The problem we have in Nigeria is we see these positions as a means to enrich ourselves hence why the position of Governors and that of the President is a do or die affair. What stops a Governor or President from working for the citizenry in general rather than for his people, his tribe or region. we need strong institutions not strong men or women, if the minimum pay for instance is made to be N100,000.00 a month and the policy was made effective by a sitting President through his manifesto, who is the direct beneficiary of this policy, is it the igbo's?, hausa's?, yoruba's? or any other tribe, no one tribe is the beneficiary, Nigerians in general would benefit and in the same token Nigerians in general should be allowed to re-elect such a person if need be.

Politics is about putting in place policies affecting the common man's pocket, life style and general well-being.

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!

Thinking political office is an act of god is EXACTLY the problem with every African leader since the independence movement that began in the 1960's. YOU WERE NOT ELECTED BECAUSE OF GOD, YOU WERE ELECTED BECAUSE OF THE PEOPLE.

It is this misguided belief that drives men to hold onto power until they are forced to let go. Who will give up God given authority? What citizen can demand accountability from a man appointed by God himself? NO! These are mortal men who are elected by mortal citizens. Their job is to serve the common man that elected him. Even their power comes from the compliance and cooperation of the PEOPLE, not from the angels.

If African politicians realized that they were average men, and humbled themselves, they would stop fixating on building monuments to vanity and start building roads. Our Governors would fixate less on people calling them "Your Excellency" and they would instead remember that Jesus washed and kissed the feet of his disciples.

The last thing Nigeria needs is more "ju ju" politicians thinking that the Angel Gabriel put them on an eternal throne.
BTW, a single term is a terrible idea, because there will be no reason for a politician to perform. Even if he/she is hated by the people all they will have to do is wait for their term to be up. The whole point of a democracy is that political leadership is a privilege, and not a right. You perform in your first term and get rewarded by the people with a second. If you fail, you are punished by being removed from office. The fear politicians have of elections is the defining hallmark of democracy.

In this bill, there is very little benefit to the common man, and lots of benefits for lazy politicians. That alone is enough to be against this proposal. Even worse is when the people drafting the bill say that they will allow the people currently in office to benefit. That is just opening the door to a dictatorship and that is a door that Nigeria can NEVER open again.

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!

Thinking political office is an act of god is EXACTLY the problem with every African leader since the independence movement that began in the 1960's. YOU WERE NOT ELECTED BECAUSE OF GOD, YOU WERE ELECTED BECAUSE OF THE PEOPLE.

It is this misguided belief that drives men to hold onto power until they are forced to let go. Who will give up God given authority? What citizen can demand accountability from a man appointed by God himself? NO! These are mortal men who are elected by mortal citizens. Their job is to serve the common man that elected him. Even their power comes from the compliance and cooperation of the PEOPLE, not from the angels.

If African politicians realized that they were average men, and humbled themselves, they would stop fixating on building monuments to vanity and start building roads. Our Governors would fixate less on people calling them "Your Excellency" and they would instead remember that Jesus washed and kissed the feet of his disciples.

The last thing Nigeria needs is more "ju ju" politicians thinking that the Angel Gabriel put them on an eternal throne.
BTW, a single term is a terrible idea, because there will be no reason for a politician to perform. Even if he/she is hated by the people all they will have to do is wait for their term to be up. The whole point of a democracy is that political leadership is a privilege, and not a right. You perform in your first term and get rewarded by the people with a second. If you fail, you are punished by being removed from office. The fear politicians have of elections is the defining hallmark of democracy.

In this bill, there is very little benefit to the common man, and lots of benefits for lazy politicians. That alone is enough to be against this proposal. Even worse is when the people drafting the bill say that they will allow the people currently in office to benefit. That is just opening the door to a dictatorship and that is a door that Nigeria can NEVER open again.

At least we agree on one thing that single term thing is a 'non-starter'. And on my second point as per "act of God", why I say it is an "act of God" is because in a scenario where only 25 people can be President or Governors in every 100 years assuming each candidate rules for 4 years out of a population of 160 million to 1 or 12 people can be President or Governors if they ruled for 8 years. That is an "act of God". It is the same term insurance companies use when there is a natural disaster, it does not mean God caused the Natural disaster, what it means is that they cannot pay out because such occurrences happens far in-between, and secondly paying out when that kind of devastation has occurred would make them go bankrupt hence why they would not even think off or envisage doing so.

One is more likely to win the UK Lottery(14 million to 1) or European Lottery(125 million to 1) than become the President of Nigeria, that is why I said it is an "act of God" not that the Politicians are behaving like some super-human god. No that is not my point, the point is once you become President, one should know one has divine providence on one's side, even though some loud mouth, good for nothing politician, might beg to differ, they would rather see the attainment of such high esteemed office as their own making. The truth is, it is not their own making but " act of God ".

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

I disagree that politicians think it is of their own making.

Nigerian politicians (and African politicians in general) are famous for saying that God is responsible for their position. Just last week Jonah Jang said that God approves of his rigging the NGF election. He said this inside a church with absolutely no sense of shame. That is just off the top of my head. There are countless other examples of African politicians attributing their electoral victories to God.

I doubt the feasibility of this sensitive issue; because its going to be difficult for a sitting guvernor or the president nursing a second term ambition to accept.
For a soft landing, I think their tenure might be elongated for 2yrs making it a total of 6yrs; if not they might head to court for them to achieve their second term.(my opinion)

Whatever colouration they like, they can give the proposal. It all boils down to elongating the tenure of the incumbents.

What I think is that these guys have seen the handwriting on the wall and are scared shitless the consequences of having elections in 2015, given the volatile nature of things at present. Noble concern I must say, but I think the proposed solution is rather ignoble.

The president has up to 15 months, or even more, to fix the security situation of the country and can do so if he grows some balls and step on big toes.

I shudder with fear at what would be should we go to the polls with bombs and gunshots still going off in the north and kidnapings in the south.

God bless Nigeria and no place else.