Obj’s Third Term Agenda – A Monkey Trap By Dozie Ikem Ezeife, Esq.
There is a South American folklore about trapping monkeys. Its apparent simplicity hides its effectiveness. The natives would drop a nut inside a bottle. Once the monkey reaches in to pick off the delicacy, it is trapped. The monkey’s greed will not allow it let go of the nut in order to free itself. This folklore is akin to the efforts being made to extend President Olusegun Obasanjo’s mandate beyond 2007.
Arguments ranging from the sublime to the downright ridiculous have been advanced by the protagonists of the so-called “Third Term Agenda”. The most ludicrous of them all is the one being bandied about with flourish by the PDP National Chairman Retired Colonel Ahmadu Ali which is being echoed by the likes of Dr. Chimaroke Nnamani of Enugu State. They are canvassing a Constitutional Amendment that will allow Olusegun Obasanjo seek another 4 year term. Their reason is that the President, in their own estimation, is doing such a marvelous job and as such should be allowed to stay on.
What makes this argument senseless and dangerous is the fact that the motivation is selfish. They do not seek a constitutional amendment because there is an innate or discovered flaw in it. Rather to benefit one man for their own selfish reasons. Assuming, arguendo, that Olusegun Obasanjo is doing a fantastic job. If the Constitution is amended to reward him, what happens after he completes another term? Do we have any guarantees that he will not want yet another 4 year term? He most certainly can sponsor constitutional amendments ad nauseam, given his stranglehold over the PDP. Even scarier is the scenario where he eventually leaves office and we end up with an Abacha or an Idi Amin. What will prevent the new monster from borrowing a leaf from Obasanjo’s political playbook and taking control of the PDP and successfully forcing himself on the polity for 12 years or even for life?
Another lame argument OBJ’s foot soldiers advance for seeking a mandate extension is that the President is the only Nigerian capable of steering the Nation to the proverbial Promised Land. This argument is an insult to all adult Nigerians. How can anybody tell us with a straight face that we cannot find another Nigerian capable of taking over from the President? What about Muhammadu Buhari, Dora Akunyili, Dangiwa Umar, Emeka Anyaoku, Ngozi Okonji-Iweala, Mallam Nuhu Ribadu, Gani Fawehinmi, Alex Ekwueme, to name but a few? Surely any of these men and women and several thousands of our Countrymen can do as well if not better than Olusegun Obasanjo.
The idea behind limiting the term of the President is not merely to limit the length of time a nation can endure a bad or non-performing President. A still stronger reason is the need to allow others a chance at governance. The fact that a President deludes himself into an unreasonable belief in his grandeur or irreplacebility is no reason to force him on a nation ad infinitum. That a President has performed creditably well is not sufficient to make him/her a permanent fixture in government. President William Jefferson Clinton with all his popularity, political dexterity and enormous achievement (never mind the Monica Lewinsky imbroglio) did not generate frenzy among the American people for a Constitutional amendment to extend his mandate.
The United States Constitution was amended to limit the terms of Presidents after the death of President Franklin D. Roosevelt, a president that served the nation for three terms. If the United States, after whose Constitution ours was fashioned, saw the need to amend their Constitution to impose Presidential Term Limits after operating their Constitution for over 175 years, where do we get off attempting to go in the opposite direction after only 6 years of implementation?
Term limit is an effective tool for curtailing the monopolization of political power. Indeed it has served the nation so well that several States in the United States have amended their State Constitutions to impose term limits on their legislative seats. Rather than elongate the service time of the Executive Branches of Government, we should think seriously about an amendment to limit the terms of those in the Legislative Branch of government in order to weed out deadweights and political jobbers such as Senators Francis Arthur Nzeribe and Ibrahim Mantu, to name a few.
Why do we persevere in attempting this political kamikaze?
Dozie Ikem Ezeife, Esq. Oakland, California
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