African leaders led by President of Niger and Chairman of ECOWAS Heads of State and Government, Mahamadou Issoufou, yesterday, paid tribute to former president, Dr. Goodluck Jonathan, for leaving office voluntarily and masterminding peaceful power transition, describing it as an exemplary show of leadership that should motivate those in power.
In his address at the ongoing Constitutional Terms Limit Summit in Niamey, he also lauded other former presidents including Nicephore Soglo of Benin, former Liberian president Amos Sawyer, Mahamane Ousmane of Niger and Catherine Samba-Panza of Central African Republic all of who he said adhered to prescribed term limits. Stressing that term limits strengthen democratic institutions and promote peaceful power transfers from one administration to another, the Nigerien president pledged to limit himself to the two terms stipulated by his country’s constitution: “My strongest desire is to transfer power after a transparent election. This’ll be the greatest achievement of my administration.”
President Issoufou also praised former South African President, the late Nelson Mandela, who he said “resisted pressure to continue in office by deciding to do only one term.”
Similarly, Sawyer praised Jonathan for setting what he called a democratic example by peacefully handing over power to his successor. “I want to thank former President Jonathan, a remarkable gentleman, for what he did for Nigeria. He did not do a second term; he showed example. He handed over powerful peacefully. He said his presidency is not worth the blood of a single Nigerian in the fray, I thank you very much in this respect.”
Speaking in a panel on the guiding principles of constitutionalism, Jonathan noted that term limits must be respected by leaders, adding that a change to a nation’s constitution in that regard could only come through a comprehensive process that allows the participation of all citizens and not by members of parliaments alone. He said the ECOWAS sub-region have been intervening to protect democracy and checkmate those leaders that go against the wish of the people.
“When I became president, there were many classical cases of such, incidentally most of those cases happened when I served as chairman of ECOWAS authority of Heads of State and Government. The first was even in this country (Niger), where the former president wanted to stay beyond the constitutionally allowed limits. That caused some social strife and the military even intervened. I remember then that we had a conversation with the military leaders then and we made it clear to them that ECOWAS will never accept military intervention. Of course, we negotiated and that made it possible for election to be conducted and a new President emerged.
“We had a similar thing in Burkina Faso. It was more challenging because the parliament agreed to even amend the constitution to allow the president to continue. But the civil society was quite restive to the extent that the parliament building was burnt down.”
Jonathan noted that ECOWAS leaders again intervened and the crisis in that country was resolved in favour of the emergence of a democratically elected President. However, he said four-year tenure is too short for any president to make meaningful impact on the country. He said elections are expensive and constitute a distraction to performance.
“When Prof. Wade (Senegal) was in his last tenure, he changed the constitution and extended the term limits from five to seven years. He thought he would win the election. But Macky Sall reduced it to five years. We must commend dynamic leaders like that. There is no need for one person to sit for 14 years doing what? The country is not your personal estate.
Countries are free to amend their laws. Just like the president of Niger Republic said, different nations have different ways of doing things, so it is better they have their own way of doing things. I agree to that.
“Most countries in Africa emulate America – that is a stable country, and take “four, four years” like Nigeria, Kenya and Ghana.
“Four years is quite a short period for a country that is developing for a person who wants to change the country to do much. In Nigeria we just finished the election and some people are already talking about 2023 election. It is distracting. That is why some people come with the idea of a single tenure, so a president can sit down and plan all his programmes for the good of the country. We are too distracted with these elections. Why must we waste money every four years to elect a leader? Those are the things that agitate our minds.”