By Ochereome Nnanna
IT is a long-established fact that those at the helm of affairs in Nigeria are simply incapable of learning the lessons of both recent and distant history of our country.

It is said that those who fail to learn from history are condemned to repeat its mistakes. It is because of this that we run around in circles rather than make progress in a linear trajectory.

If our politicians were sensitive to the basic political impulse of Nigerians, they would have known by now that as far as the question of tenure of office is concerned, our people have long developed a locked mindset towards any attempt to tamper with it. We say no, whether you are talking of tenure elongation or tenure truncation.

In other words, the issue of tenure for elected public office holders as enshrined in the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999, which provides for a maximum of two four-year terms, is a settled matter.

The last thing a Nigerian wants to hear is “tenure elongation”, whether it comes in form of ex-President Olusegun Obasanjo’s “third term” or President Goodluck Jonathan’s six-year single term added to his ongoing four years.

It baffled me that the Senate Committee on Constitution Amendment led by the Deputy President of the Senate, Ike Ekweremadu, proceeded to include the issue of tenure in its recently concluded exercise.

We are all living witnesses to the fact that tenure matters alone derailed the entire Constitution Amendment Bill of 2006. President Obasanjo, by puckishly inserting an extra term of office for himself and governors, made it impossible for other agreed items for amendment, including an extra state for the South East Zone, to become constitutional enactments.

We also remember very vividly, that President Jonathan quickly exhausted his goodwill and started his journey into the hot soup of public criticism when he hinted that he would send a Bill for amendment of the constitution restricting elected chief executives (president and governors) to a single term of six years each.

It was, therefore, a thing of considerable surprise (and typical double standards of politicians) when Ekweremadu’s committee came out with this six-year single term and received a scathing rejection of it from the same presidency that had proposed it.

The reason was obvious: Ekweremadu’s committee had, rather naively (if not childishly) asked the president and first term governors to graciously and voluntarily forgo their second term “as a national sacrifice” and allow the six-year to start in 2015! Ekweremadu and his group did not tell us what “national sacrifices” they were prepared to make to set an example for the president and first term governors to follow. Sacrifice is a noble idea, provided the person calling for it is not the one to make it for others to enjoy!

And the Presidency, by rejecting it, exposed the ulterior motive behind GEJ’s original proposition of the idea: he obviously intended to benefit from it since he did not specify that it should start from 2019.

I am totally opposed to single terms, whether it is four, six or ten years. Equally, I am obdurately against making a law to truncate the political rights of anyone or add through impunity, to the two-term tenure entitlement. I believe in the maxim that says: “one good term deserves another”.

Most presidents and governors work very hard during their first term and use the second term to arrange a graceful exit. Either way, they are forced to, as much as possible, balance the scales and reach as many of the political interests or stakeholders in the polity as possible.

One term will encourage dictatorship or vengeance. Once a leader with an axe to grind is elected he simply uses his six years to do his worst knowing he will not go back to the people for renewal of mandate.

People often bemoan the “second term syndrome”, whereby two years into the first term politicians are already investing valuable time and resources to grab a second term. The only thing wrong with it is that in our renascent democracy some politicians do take this to extremes.

The cheering news, however, is that as the polity matures the negative attributes of ‘second term syndrome” will gradually give way.

Two-term tenure is the rule, not the exception in most matured democracies. Apart from enabling the electorate to renew or reject candidates at the polls, it promotes constant engagement with the people. Democracy is a game of the people. Leaders must regularly return to the people to renew their legitimacies.

In the US, the four-year electoral cycle has been designed into two-year sections: the presidential election year and the Mid-term, when most legislators and some governors return to the electorate for mandate renewal.

Stretching the period to six years will smack of “political starvation”. It is usually popular in civilian dictatorships such as Robert Mugabe’s Zimbabwe and Hosni Mubarak’s Egypt.

The groundswell of opposition to the Ekweremadu committee’s suggestion is not surprising. That the House of Reps says no to it means it is dead on arrival. The Senate must quickly delete that item from the constitution amendment process or it may, once again, ensure the failure of the process.

Bravo, Borno’s ‘JTF youth’

I AM exhilarated that the war on terror is now going exactly the way I had campaigned on this forum. First, the Federal Government suddenly slammed its door on amnesty for Boko Haram, choosing to crush them first before returning to that issue later. The effect is there for all to see.

One of the desirable effects of the military assault on the terrorists is that some young people in Borno State have formed what they call “JTF Civilians”.

Armed with basic, simple weapons, they move in groups, apprehending known members or supporters of Boko Haram and hand them over to the Joint Military Task Force (JTF). I say Bravo! Go on, young people; retake your state, your motherland from foreign-sponsored enemies of your people, your country.

The future belongs to you. Do not allow these devils to steal it from you! I am delighted that more people are buying into the war on terror, rather than listen to political blackmailers.