The proposal by elder statesman and Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), Chief Robert Clarke, that the tenure of President Muhammadu Buhari be extended by six months is obnoxious, unhelpful and should be dismissed outright. Clarke’s position was preceded recently by another dangerous proposition by a legal luminary, Chief Afe Babalola (SAN). Babalola had called for the setting up of an interim national government for a period of six months to address some of the issues affecting the country. We are at a loss why these suggestions are coming at a time we should be concluding arrangements for the 2023 general election.
Clarke’s reasons for suggesting tenure elongation are not tenable. According to him, extending President Buhari’s tenure will enable him to tackle the lingering insecurity in the country before the 2023 general election. Speaking on Arise Television, in an interview, Clarke further noted that the constitution allowed the president to continue in office for six months if the atmosphere for election was not conducive. He cited the spate of insecurity in the country and said we might not have a good election in different areas of Nigeria. Ironically, this same Clarke berated former President Olusegun Obasanjo for attempting to foist a third term agenda on the nation after his tenure in 2007.
In his own recent suggestion, Babalola asked for an interim government that would stay for six months. The proposed interim government, he added, would consist of all retired presidents, vice presidents, governors and some selected people, and would discuss a new constitution which should provide for part-time legislators and non-executive president. According to him, using the current constitution to conduct another election will bring about the same faulty leadership and system the country is grappling with currently. We say ‘No’ to tenure elongation under any guise. We have been on that road before and it was not palatable. Obasanjo’s attempt to drag the country into his third term agenda failed woefully. This one too will fail.
It is obvious that tenure elongation is definitely not one of the ways to tackle insecurity, corruption, poverty, rising debt and other problems afflicting Nigeria. This government has eight years to fix these problems. If it could not fix them in eight years, it will definitely not perform any magic in six months. The moment any administration runs its course, it must go. Nobody has monopoly of knowledge to keep being in office. It is even possible that an incoming administration will do better than the outgoing one.
The beauty of democracy is that there is an opportunity to vote out a weak and non-performing administration once it runs its course. That is what is obtainable in thriving democracies like the United States and others. The legendary former South African President, Nelson Mandela, bowed out honourably after his first term in office in 1999 even when the 1996 constitution allowed him to serve two consecutive five-year terms. This is what Nigerian leaders should emulate. The point is, no matter how good a leader is, he must not manipulate the system to elongate his tenure. It is good that the presidency has promised to keep to the handover date being May 29, 2023. Presidential spokesman, Garba Shehu, noted that President Buhari was committed to extending and entrenching democratic values across the country, “having been the first recipient of a democratic transfer of power from an incumbent administration to an opposition candidate in Nigeria’s history.” Shehu added that Buhari would, in turn, hand over to whomsoever Nigerians chose through free, fair and credible elections.
The President has an obligation to keep to his promise as the Nigerian Constitution makes handover date sacrosanct. Sections 135(2) and 137(1)(b) of the 1999 Constitution (as amended) stipulate a maximum of eight years for the president. It is only when Nigeria is at war, as stipulated in Section 135(3), that Clarke and Babalola’s postulations could be contemplated. According to Section 1(2) of the 1999 Constitution (as amended), Nigeria will only be governed in accordance with the constitution. Hence, any attempt to manipulate this constitutional stipulation is dead on arrival. It will not augur well for the advancement of our democracy.
It is worthy to note that many Nigerians are as concerned as Clarke and Babalola on the state of the nation. But they are averse to tenure elongation because it will worsen the situation. Any attempt to extend the handover date even by one day will portend danger to our democracy. If we extend the tenure of the President, for instance, what happens to the governors who are expected to hand over like President Buhari in 2023?
A country gains a lot when it has credible transition process. We believe the remaining one year will be enough for this administration to tidy up its table, conduct a general election and hand over. The President, therefore, should not give room for any tenure elongation at all. We wish to also caution that comments that could incite some elements to consider scuttling our democratic process should be avoided henceforth.