by Tosin Adesina

Shortly after the 2011 Presidential election was concluded, former President Goodluck Jonathan on the 18th of July 2011, made public his plan to send an executive bill to the National Assembly. The bill sought to make the term for elective public office to be a single term of six years instead of four years with a re-election for another term.

According to his then Spokesman Dr Reuben Abati, “President Jonathan’s commitment to a single term for the President and Governors is borne out of a patriotic zeal, after a painstaking study and belief that the constitutionally guaranteed two terms for Presidents and Governors is not helping the focus of Governance and institutionalization of democracy at this stage of our development. A longer term for lawmakers would also help to stabilise the polity”

As novel as the idea may have sounded then, it was rejected by Nigeria’s political players. The current president, Muhammadu Buhari kicked against the proposal accusing Jonathan of seeking a tenure elongation which was denied by the former president in a statement saying he would not be a beneficiary of the bill.

Explaining the rationale for the bill, Jonathan stated that, “He is concerned about the acrimony which the issue of re-election, every four years, generates both at the Federal and State levels. The nation is still smarting from the unrest, the desperation for power and the overheating of the polity that has attended each general election, the fall-out of all this is the unending inter and intra-party squabbles which have affected the growth of party democracy in the country, and have further undermined the country’s developmental aspirations”.

The above paragraph seems to paint a picture of current happenings in Nigeria. The ruling APC is yet to settle for governance, two years after assuming power. The internal squabbles in the party may be linked with ambitions ahead of the 2019 election, leaving the country at a supposed stand still. Many Nigerians are of the opinion that against their expectation, growth and development under this Government has assumed a downward slide.

The crisis in the National Assembly and the call for restructuring in the eyes of political watchers are all geared towards 2019 elections. All these agitations would have been needless when the electorates know a new person will be elected at every election cycle.

Moreso, the cost of running election every four years in Nigeria is expensive, both for INEC and for aspirants. Politicians end up doing all they can to recoup monies spent during elections.

Jonathan’s suggestion may have been rejected back then, and for good reasons, but it will do no harm if we take a second look at it.

Editor