NO TO TENURE EXTENSION

By Jide ayobolu <jideayobolu@yahoo.co.uk> Aug 19, 2006

There is no reason why those who are in positions of authority in the country should be unduly overheating the polity, and create un-necessary hiccups for the unfolding democratic process in the country. Those who fail to learn good things from history will sooner than later become part of relics of history. Barely three months after the National Assembly threw out a third term tenure bill, some members of the lower chamber of the National Assembly have in concert with the president launched a fresh bid to extend the administration and tenure of office of the president. Obasanjo, who was re-elected to office in 2003, will complete his second term on May 29, 2007. Although some attempts were made to extend the tenure of office holders, the National Assembly on May 16, 2006 threw out a constitution amendment bill proposed by the Senator Ibrahim Mantu-led Joint Committee on the review of the constitution. The PDP’s caucus in the National Assembly has subtly initiated a fresh bid for an extra one year in office for the president.

 Albeit, the presidency has said that no such thing in the offing, it said it was just intimating the members of the House of Representatives with the new projects the government is just embarking on. But the question is that, while will a government that is expected to handover power next year, now initiate new projects that will take about three years to complete, seven years into the eight year administration of this government? Again, we must not lose sight of the plans to introduce the interim national government by the government, after the abrupt collapse of the third term elongation agenda. The fact of the matter is the 1999 constitution of the federal republic of Nigeria which the president swore on oath to uphold and defend, and which is the supreme law of the land states that, the president is entitled to two terms of four years each, no more, no less. But the president and his co-travelers are desperating, looking for ways and means to extend the tenure of the president at all cost. Again, it would be recalled that the way the presidency is denying attempts to the tenure of the president is the same way it denied the third term brouhaha. Hence, the government is just buying time.

Again, it appears that those at the helm of affairs do not really appreciate what service is all about. This is about rendering qualitative and selfless service to the society. When people strive to impose themselves on the people against the will of the people, then the reason why they seek public office is not about service to the people, indeed, it is about helping themselves with public funds. The people are saying they voted Obasanjo in 1999 and 2003, after he had spent three years, three months and three days in prison. Now, you have served the country, at over 70 years of age, retire to Ota Farm and use the rest of your life to serve your family, community and God, and allow another person with news ideas and fresh initiatives takeover the governance of the country.

But why is it so difficult for people in positions of authority in this part of the world to voluntarily relinquish power? Power is aphrodisiac that those who have tasted it at the highest level find it very difficult to resist it. But history has shown that those who manipulate the system and forcefully impose themselves on the people never end well. Nigeria is a country of well over 150 million people, so, how can one person hold the whole nation to ransom? The problem is that when this government came on board in 1999, instead of it to systematically build structures, processes, institutions and pillars of democracy, the people in government were busy building personality cult around the president, they made him believe that he is the only person that can govern the country and without him there, the country will disintegrate. It is because of this fallacy that he now thinks he is the messiah the country needs, but the reality is that no man is God, perhaps, this explain why he suffers so much for messiah complex. So, the president should retrace his steps, do the right thing, conduct a free and fair election, and hand power come May 2007.

By Jide Ayobolu

Abuja.