No to tenure elongation here, Mr Ekweremadu

And so in the week it was alleged that United States dollar bribes were flying inside the National Assembly, Ike Ekweremadu, the Deputy President of the Senate, did the bizarre: He suggested quite absent-mindedly, a two-year tenure elongation for President Goodluck Jonathan and the state governors. Ekweremadu and his sponsors really have a great deal […]

And so in the week it was alleged that United States dollar bribes were flying inside the National Assembly, Ike Ekweremadu, the Deputy President of the Senate, did the bizarre: He suggested quite absent-mindedly, a two-year tenure elongation for President Goodluck Jonathan and the state governors. Ekweremadu and his sponsors really have a great deal to fear: loss of power by the PDP, which has already lost the appellation the largest party in Africa.
As I write, serving PDP governors and legislators, both state and federal, are moving out in droves and on their way to the opposition All Progressives Congress (APC). Bruised and confused, the PDP desperately needs another two years to sort out its self-inflicted mess and “win” the next election. Senator Ike Ekweremadu who “spoke in Lagos at a dinner with select reporters” from only one newspaper, was of the opinion that elongating the tenure of these public officers by two years i.e. up to 2017 instead of 2015, is aimed at “resolving the threat that the 2015 elections already bode”. The senator is worried that “all the core problems we are having in all parties are about the issue of succession” which has created animosity and that stretching the president and governors’ tenure by another two years “would simply allow the present actors to be eased out of office and allow for a fresh start on a clean slate, almost without tension”.
This logic is as artless as it is preposterous. All the political parties of all countries where elections are held are concerned “about the issue of succession”. It is a core problem in Nigeria only because the PDP and its leaders want to hold on to power at all costs. Even though their party is splintering, they claim it is intact; where their governors and legislators are carpet-crossing, they say they’re unaware; where their members are leaving, they say their number is greater; but because deep down they know that the game is up, they have come up with a silly and shameless proposal to keep power to themselves over and above the mandate period. Senator Ekweremadu pretends that he doesn’t know that Nigerians are already fed up with this government and that they’re only tolerating it till 2015. To stretch the tenure of this sickening government by two years is to set foot firmly on the path to hell. I’d thought that Ekweremadu and company would suggest that the election is brought forward to resolve “the threat that the 2015 elections already bode”, instead of living with this threat for another four years from now. The PDP and its president have realised that their distractive national dialogue has failed to unsettle the opposition, they now want to re-introduce their desperate tenure elongation agenda through the national assembly and Ekweremadu is their point man. How much more warped can a suggestion be!
The PDP, in disarray and incapable of winning the next election, wants two more years in power, so they can regain balance and contest for political power again. But who will wait for PDP to regain balance? Is it APC? How can other political parties cooperate with PDP and just hand them that pass? Mr Senator, there are political parties ready to cash in on your party’s macabre dance and wrest power from it today, not tomorrow. Nigerians are so disgusted with this government’s latest script that any attempt to move the date of elections or handover will be disastrous.
When the president first raised the issue, Nigerians became alarmed at how a government just elected would fiddle with tenure elongation agenda. The presidency later claimed that the single tenure proposal was originally the brain child of late President Umar Musa ‘Yar’adua, and that in any case they were going to transmit an Executive Bill on the matter to the national assembly.  They never did until the single tenure agenda was shot down by the constitution review committee itself.
Shortly before then, Ahmed Gulak had savagely criticised the proposal for seeking to exclude his principal. Now the push has come to shove and power is about to be wrested from their clammy hands, they’re scrambling to introduce a tenure elongation bill. It is hard to absolve the presidency of blame in this lousy proposal. Apparently, the presidency is lobbying and scheming to extend their mandate and to have it sail through; they need to bring the governors on board as beneficiaries.
The truth is that the PDP is afraid of elections. The PDP has always craved for a situation where they will leapfrog election date and just fast-forward to a swearing ceremony somewhere at Eagle Square or more assuredly, the Banquet Hall of Aso Villa where Jonathan could again promise us fresh air!  
Well, Mr Ekweremadu, the presidency has noted your heroic effort and if the tenure elongation proposal fails, it’ll not be because you’ve failed to propose it. Equally, if it is Sullivan Chime’s desire to govern Enugu beyond 2015, he will also see that you’ve bought into this scheme by suggesting what you suggested and this ought to atone for whatever sin you’ve committed, coming as it is on the heels of your bitter complaint that he has been frustrating the actualisation of all the federal projects you’ve attracted to your constituency.
In the meantime, we look forward to 2015 so we can elect a new president, neutralise Boko Haram, clean the Malabu Oil mess, dispose the oil subsidy saga, try the $250m bribe recipient minister, look into the Sure-P bazaar, sort out Oduah-gate, reduce poverty, settle permanently with ASUU, investigate presidential illnesses and reclaim our country.