Home | News | Jonathan woos senators, reps with new deal
Jonathan woos senators, reps with new deal
By Yusuf Alli 02/10/2011 00:00:00
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L-R: Vice President’s wife, Amina Sambo, Vice President Namadi Sambo, President Goodluck Jonathan, First Lady Patience Jonathan, Senate President’s wife, Helen Mark and Senate President David Mark cutting the 51st Independence Anniversary cake at the for
7-Year single tenure bill • Rotation of presidency, governorship between zones in new amendments • Senators, reps get 6-year renewable tenure • Opposition parties bank on North to defeat bill
In a bid to ensure its troubled seven-year single tenure bill scales through the national and state assemblies, the Presidency is set to present new proposals that will enshrine the rotation of the office of President between the six geo-political zones of the country in the constitution.
Similarly, there would be constitutional guarantees for the first time ensuring that the office of governor rotates between the senatorial zones of every state.
The existing 1999 constitution is silent on the issue of rotation of such positions between the zones. It equally does not recognize the zones as legal entities. Presently, only the constitution of the ruling Peoples’ Democratic Party (PDP) provides for a lose arrangement where the Presidency rotates between North and South.
If President Goodluck Jonathan’s new proposals scale through the National Assembly, they throw open the 2015 presidential and gubernatorial contests as all zones at state and federal level would have constitutional grounds to vie for any of the positions.
Fresh facts emerged yesterday about a change of strategy driving the new proposals. Investigation by our correspondent indicate that the minister coordinating the amendments and some of Jonathan’s strategists have been studying reasons why former President Olusegun Obasanjo’s attempts to amend the constitution failed in 2006.
To avoid a repeat, the new approach will see the government offering senators, members of the House of Representatives and state assemblies a series of carrots and deals in what is essentially a divide and rule approach.
Senior government sources told The Nation on Sunday in confidence that the new bill will be packaged in such a way that there would items in the legislation that legislators would find hard to reject.
"The amendments will be proposed by the government in a manner that will leave members of the National Assembly divided on the tenure bill. At the end of the day, a Senator or Representative will have one cause or the other to support the amendments - including the single tenure proposal", the source said.
Some of the other carrots being put on the table include a renewable six-year tenure for National Assembly and State House of Assembly members as well as creation of new states and autonomy for local governments. Part of the strategy is also to infiltrate the ranks of opposition parties to get backing for the bill. But the government is unsure of the attitude of governors. It is equally apprehensive of a backlash from the opposition and media as was the case with the botched Third Term agenda.
A key opposition leader who wishes to remain anonymous, told The Nation on Sunday: "Jonathan will be shocked that members of the Peoples Democratic Party in the National Assembly will reject the tenure proposal. Feelers from even the PDP governors show that the tenure magic will die on arrival. "The booby trap for governors is that they will serve a six-year term under a President who will be in office for a single term of seven years. It means that a ruthless president can use state instrument to oppress or deal with them after leaving office or determine their successors in their states. "If the tenure proposal has no ill-motive, why can’t the president and the governors have the same exit date?
President Jonathan is proposing the French model of a seven-year single tenure for the new president and governors coming on board as from 2015.
Although the proposal initially raised considerable dust, the President has vowed to press ahead with the bill. The opposition have, however, vowed to mobilise Nigerians to reject the new tenure bill.
Indications are that the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN), the Congress for Progressive Change (CPC) and other opposition parties will soon open talks with Northern leaders in a bid to ensure the defeat of the tenure bill in the National Assembly.
"As far as the tenure bill is concerned, opposition parties intend to join forces to kill the weird proposal. We have started discussions with key Northern leaders on why the tenure proposal must not fly.
"There is no vision behind the seven-year tenure when we are already operating a system that allow two terms of four years each – making eight years. Their plan is to make a retroactive tenure to ensure that Jonathan stays in office for seven years," the opposition leader privy to the discussions said.

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