President Goodluck Jonathan’s
re-election bid may be hanging in the balance, following the insistence
of the Senate Committee on the Amendment of the 1999 Constitution that
the single term proposal must begin in 2015.
Deputy Senate President, Ike Ekweremadu, told Saturday PUNCH
in an exclusive interview that the date would not be changed because
there was no indication that Jonathan was intent on seeking a second
term.
He was reacting to comments by the
Political Adviser to the President, Ahmed Gulak, who was quoted as
saying that the single tenure proposal was targeted at the President and
first term governors.
Gulak had in an interview with Sunday PUNCH published
on June 9, said, “You can’t short-change some people in the name of
amending the constitution. I’m sure there will be some considerations
and the proposal will fail.
“The President and some governors were
elected under a constitution that allows them to contest two terms of
four years each. You can’t change the rule midway.”
Also on Monday, Gulak said the
Presidency would support the amendment, if it would take effect in 2019,
thus allowing Jonathan to contest the 2015 presidential election.
Gulak, who spoke on a Channels
Television programme, said, “The committee’s proposal is that those
incumbent governors and the President who are supposed to enjoy a second
term will not participate.
“What we are saying is that laws are not
amended to target a particular group of people. It could have been
okay, if all those first term governors are allowed to participate, and
after 2019, anybody coming in will know that he is going to be elected
under the amended constitution.”
But, Ekweremadu, who is the chairman of
the committee, said the President had not told anybody he would contest
the 2015 election.
He added that the proposed amendment could not, therefore, be targeted at him.
Ekweremadu spoke to one of our correspondents in an exclusive telephone interview from London on Tuesday.
But responding to Gulak on Tuesday,
Ekweremadu said that it would be begging the question for the committee
to target an individual, who had yet to tell anyone he was running in
2015.
He said, “President Jonathan has not
told anybody that he wants to run in 2015, has he? He has not told
anybody so, why are we speculating?
“If the President is running in 2015, at
the appropriate time, he will make up his mind. Our proposal wouldn’t
have been targeted at somebody who has not said he is running in 2015.
“Please let us leave Mr. President out
of the present scenario. The issue is whether it is good for Nigeria or
not. If it is good for Nigeria, the President, I know, will respect it.
“The argument should be: will it serve
the best interest of Nigerians and help promote our democracy? Will it
engender sustainability in the system?
“If the answer is yes, I think the
President will not have any problem with it. But if the answer is no,
every other person including the President will have a problem with it.
“Let us be objective and not subject it
to people’s whims and caprices. It is the people’s assessment of the
recommendation that I think will help us.
“Once we begin to have a subjective assessment of it, we are going to run into problems.”
Also speaking on the same subject, a
member of the committee, Senator Adegbenga Kaka (Ogun East), wondered
why there was so much fuss about the single tenure, whose idea was first
broached by the President himself.
He said, “I don’t know what our problem
is in this country. As early as 2011, it was President Goodluck Jonathan
who first proposed a single term that would preclude him from the race.
“If it was proposed, and our committee included it in its proposals to the Senate, what is the issue?
“We, like most Nigerians, agree that the
cost of running elections in this country is too high, what we have
done is simply to say, instead of spending so much money, in fact
wasting so much money on re-elections, let us do things differently.
“This money can put to better use by
improving the lives of our people. We should look at the message and
stop looking at the messenger.
“Some of us are even of the view that we
should jettison the presidential system of government and go back to
the parliamentary system.
“We have only made recommendations, we will go back to plenary where our colleagues will make their input.
“Even after this, it will still go to the states for further input. So, it is not something that is cast in stone.”
Meanwhile, the apex Igbo socio-cultural
organisation, Ohaneze Ndigbo, has rejected the recommendation that
Jonathan and first term governors should be excluded from seeking
re-election in 2015, as a result of the proposal.
The Secretary General of Ohaneze Ndigbo,
Dr. Joe Nwaorgu, told one of our correspondents that it has always been
the position of Ohaneze that chief executives should hold office for a
single term of six years.
“But to exclude President Jonathan, we
refuse. He as well as all those currently serving as governors should
serve out their tenures and complete their second terms if they win
re-election,” Nwarogu said.
Also speaking, the Arewa Consultative Forum has restated its opposition to the proposal.
ACF National Publicity Secretary, Mr. Anthony Sani, stated this in a text message to Saturday PUNCH in Abuja on Thursday.
According to the ACF chieftain, the
decision to reject the proposal was born out of a principled conviction
that it would be counterproductive.
Sani said, “ACF’s position against
single tenure is based on principle that it lacks the incentives to
motivate for excellence. It has nothing to do with the person of the
President or dates of commencement.”
