The Tenure Elongation Tussle

Barely two months after being saddled with the daunting task of steering the turbulent ship called Nigeria, president Goodluck Jonathan finds himself embroiled in a quagmire, one that was very much avoidable. It was a shocker that was bound to raise dust, when Nigerians woke up to find the front pages of the national dallies, all with a unanimous creed: 'Jonathan to send bill for a single six years tenure for president and governors.' Whatever his intentions were, they certainly defy logic and were very untimely. At a time when the Boko Haram puzzle was proving a hard nut to crack, one expects that president Jonathan will make that his priority. Rather, he has decided to stoke a fire, he might never be able to put off. The nation is fraughted with a plethora of ills, and the tenure elongation issue should have been down on the pecking order, at least for the moment. Perhaps, the president is bringing this up to distract us from our many problems? Perhaps, he has been ill-adviced by his new special advisers? Or does he have an ulterior motive? The permutations are more than a handful, but some of the criticisms are not unfounded. Even if one is to give the proposal a thought, some clearifications and questions are imperative and sacrosanct. What will happen to the governors that are serving their first term? Wouldn't this bring about more desperation among politicians? Moreover, even though the president has told us that he will not run in 2015, we know how power can intoxicate. The proposal might have been the brainchild of a myraid of political parties, however, for the president to accept it hook, line and sinker, questions his dexterity in office and temerity to take a stance. Only time will tell when all these will end. Yet, it goes without saying that this issue is the least of our problems at the moment.