The House of Representatives yesterday rejected a move to amend the nation’s constitution to pave the way for a single term of six years for the president and governors and multiple terms of six years for national and state assemblies members.John Dyegh (APC: Benue) who sponsored the bill had sought the alteration of sections 64 (1), 64 (2), 105 (2), 135 (2), 137 (1), 180 (1) and 180 (2) of the 1999 Constitution as amended at the plenary presided over by the Deputy Speaker, Ahmed Wase. But the bill was flatly rejected by the lawmakers after deliberation.
Leading the debate on the general principles of the bill, Dyegh argued that an elongated tenure offers a promising long-time solution to the avoidable loss of limbs, lives and sources of living attributable to conflicts arising from re-election processes. He further argued that a six-year consecutive tenure for legislators would not only deepen democracy, it would save the country the high turnover of legislators which, according to him, constitutes loss of experience and institutional knowledge.
But his position was not convincing to Yusuf Gadji who argued that the country’s democracy does not require a six-year single term for the executive, stressing that the Electoral Act should rather be strengthened.Olumide Osoba who spoke in the same vein said that what the country needed was electoral reform and not tenure extension, just as the House Minority Leader, Ndudi Elumelu, said that the immunity clause for governors and president should be removed.
Source: Guardian Newspaper
