Presidential, guber polls may hold 2017 •As Senate set to revisit single tenure ... A+ A A- Presidential, guber polls may hold 2017 •As Senate set to revisit single tenure proposal Written by Taiwo Adisa -Abuja Monday, 02 December 2013 00:00 font size decrease font size increase font size Print Email DISQUS_COMMENTS_COUNT:13 Comments Rate this item 1 2 3 4 5 (3 votes) раскрутка сайтов [senate in chamber] DEPUTY Senate President, Ike Ekweremadu, has said the National Assembly will revisit the single term clause for president and governors in the ongoing constitution amendment process. Ekweremadu, who doubles as chairman, Senate Committee on Constitution Amendment, spoke in an interactive session with newsmen in Lagos, at the weekend, adding that the political tension in the country, especially the crises rocking the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), were traceable to quest for power among politicians. According to him, if all the stakeholders in the polity came to agreement on the issue of single tenure, it could be agreed that all executive office holders leave in 2017 instead of 2015. He insisted that legislating the power sharing clause into the constitution would help reduce the tension that usually trailed succession of executive office holders. The deputy Senate President, who also stated that the ongoing constitution amendment exercise would enhance the outcome of the planned national conference, added that the planned amendment to Section Nine of the constitution could aid the enactment of a brand new constitution, one of the key objectives of national conference advocates. According to Ekweremadu, succession crises revolving around executive positions in recent times had generated untold tension in the polity. “When the matter came up at the level of our committee, we were mindful of the political atmosphere. We also tried to draw inspiration from what happened in other jurisdictions, especially within the Latin America in the 1970s. “They had the kind of circumstances we now find ourselves in, where the transition from one president to another was a major issue and was causing all sorts of crises in their region. “So, they decided to amend their constitution at that time to create single term in many of those countries, in order to stabilise their democracy. And it was for a transition period. Now, most of them are amending their constitution to go back to two terms, after they had stabilised the system. “So, we felt it was something we could recommend to our country. And if you look at what is going on now, all the problems we are having in Nigeria, the New PDP, the All Progressives Congress (APC) and all that, they are all issues of succession. And I believe that the matter is something that could be revisited,” he said. While insisting the the Senate committee would revisit the clause before the clause by clause consideration of the amendment bill, Ekweremadu said the recommendation came up against interests among the incumbent executive office holders who moved against it. “I think the mistake we made in our recommendations was when we said that the incumbents would not benefit from it. I think there was some kind of coalition of forces to defeat it,” he stated, adding that “if the players, the stakeholders in the polity are able to come together and believe strongly as I do that it is one way to deal with the situation, it could be a win-win situation for everybody.” According to him, “now, let everybody complete the four-year tenure for which he or she has been elected. Then we can, through the doctrine of necessity, do some kind of a transition of two years. In which case, those who are now the present occupants like the president and the governors will now do, maybe another two years, that will end in 2017. “Some of these people who are fighting the president, I hear that their complaint is that if the president gets a second term when they are gone, he would start chasing them. So, if we all agree that will be a way to solve the problem, after the two years, both the president and these other governors would now exit. So, the fear will not be there and we believe that it will bring down the temperature of politics.” On the proposed national conference, the deputy Senate President insisted that the outcome of the confab must pass through due legislative process to ensure it became law. He also said the ongoing constitution amendment would, however, enhance the legislative process on the confab report, adding that the National Assembly, through the planned amendment of Section Nine of the 1999 Constitution, was already setting up a process that would make the enactment of a new constitution possible. “Whatever recommendation that come from the national dialogue will need to be tabled before the institution which responsibility it is to make laws,” Ekweremadu said, adding that if the National Assembly passed the amendment to Section Nine of the 1999 Constitution, the outcome of the national conference could form the template for a brand new constitution. Senator Ekweremadu said there were experts in legislative processes in the upper and lower chambers of the National Assembly who would look at the document line-by-line and make sure everything was right. “This why there is going to be a debate over the outcome of the planned dialogue at the National Assembly. It is going to be subjected to critical debate. It has to go through legislative processes. “In the course of doing this, something fundamental can be discovered.When this happens, we will be sure that the whole legislative process is completed and the outcome of that process will be so important, so good, so fundamental. “There is no way people will come to Abuja and sit down somewhere and draft a new constitution just like that. It has not happened like that anywhere in the world. “Assuming we are having a military government in place, it is possible to bring people together, set up constituted assembly because there is no parliament and they can agree on whatever they want to. “There is nowhere in the world where the ultimate legislative body is in existence and the authority will go and replicate the body for the purpose of writing a constitution. If such happens, then it is an invitation to anarchy,” he said.
Posted on: Tue, 03 Dec 2013 05:26:39 +0000
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