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| President Goodluck Jonathan |
The proposal, which seeks to replace the renewable four-year tenure with a single six-year tenure, will require passage in both chambers of the National Assembly and two-thirds of state assemblies.
Investigations showed that governors in the North and states under the control of opposition political parties are kicking against the plan.
It was gathered that most governors were aggrieved that the President did not consult them before arriving at the decision.
Despite Jonathan’s avowal not to be a beneficiary of the proposal as it would come into effect in 2015 after his tenure had ended, many of the governors fear the plan may short-change the North.
A governor from one of the Northern states, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, said the North was suspicious of the plan.
He said, “We feel that the bill will short-change the North even if Jonathan does not contest.
“By 2015, the South will have been in power for a total of 13 years, out of 16 years of civil rule since 1999. Obasanjo spent eight years in office, Jonathan will have spent five years in 2015.
“Why is it that Jonathan is thinking of a single tenure, when it is the turn of the North? We are suspecting that there is a hidden agenda.”
Investigations showed that states controlled by the opposition would abide by the directive of their parties.
Major opposition parties, including the Action Congress of Nigeria, the Congress for Progressive Change, the Labour Party and the All Nigeria Peoples Party had on Wednesday condemned the President’s plan.
In line with his party’s stand, the Osun State Governor, Mr. Rauf Aregbesola, was quick to condemn the bill.
Aregbesola, who won the state’s governorship election on the platform of the ACN, spoke through his aide, Mr Semiu Okanlawon, who described the bill as ‘distracting.’
Okanlawon, who is the Director, Bureau of Communication and Strategy, Osun State, said that there were more problems confronting Nigerians than single term bid.
“The position of the government of Osun is in alignment with the position of the Action Congress of Nigeria. There are many fundamental problems challenging the corporate existence of the country than single term bid,” he said.
The governors and opposition parties kick is further hardened by the constitutional challenges facing such alteration.
Section 9 of the Constitution states, “Any act of the National Assembly for the alteration of this constitution, not being an Act to which Section 8 of this constitution applies, shall not be passed in either House of the National Assembly unless the proposal is supported by the votes of not less than two-thirds majority of all the members of that House and approved by resolution of the Houses of Assembly of not less than two-thirds of all the states.”
In other words, 24 state assemblies are statutorily required to ratify any alteration before it can stand.
Correspondents gathered that opposition parties had started mobilising the governors and state assemblies to shoot down the proposed bill.
The dissenting parties are the ACN, ANPP, LP and CPC. The four parties currently control 11 states.
The ACN is in power in six states: Ogun, Lagos, Oyo, Osun, Ekiti and Edo states, while the ANPP controls Zamfara, Borno and Yobe states.
Also, the CPC governs Nasarawa State, while LP is in charge in Ondo State.
Although the PDP controls the Nasarawa State House of Assembly, it was gathered that the state Governor, Alhaji Al-Makura, had concluded arrangements to convince the lawmakers to reject the bill.
Besides the 11 opposition states controlled by four parties, except All Progressives Grand Alliance, many North-East and the North-West governors were said to have been riled by the proposed bill.
It was learnt that the ACN had directed its governors and their state houses of assembly to ensure that the bill was killed.
The party had on Wednesday described Jonathan’s plan as deceptive and self-serving and a terrible misadventure.
It was also gathered that the ANPP at its National Executive Committee meeting in Abuja on Thursday advised its three governors to be vigilant.
An aide to an ACN governor, who pleaded anonymity, said, “I know like in all national issues, the six ACN states are taking a common stand on the single tenure proposal and they are going to work against it.”
Another governor confided in a correspondent saying, “We are not happy that the President did not discuss the issue with us before announcing it. If he had discussed it, we would have told him our minds.”
However, when contacted for comments, Chairman of Governors Forum and Rivers State Governor, Mr. Chibuike Amaechi, said the state government was still watching the situation as it concerned the President’s proposal for a single tenure.
Amaechi, who spoke through his Chief Press Secretary, Mr. David Iyofor, said the state government would make its position known at the appropriate time.
Meanwhile, the Conference of Nigerian Political Parties has urged Nigerians not to be deceived by the denials put up by the president in the wake of the proposal to allow for a single term of six years for the executive arm.
CNPP said the outrage that greeted the bill from many quarters was enough evidence that the proposal was unpopular and must not be allowed to proceed further.
In a press statement signed by the Secretary General of the body, Mr. Willy Ezugwu, the CNPP rejected the assurance by Jonathan that he would not be a beneficiary if the amendment sailed through.
Ezugwu said, “PDP and its zoning policy are well known to Nigerians. We have seen how much of the president’s promise he was able to keep in terms of the payment of the minimum wage to workers. He agreed to it as a campaign promise and tried to recant after winning the election.”
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