Abuja — The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) yesterday submitted a seven-year single term for President and six-year single term for governors as part of its recommendations to the Electoral Reform Committee in Abuja.
It also recommended a zoning arrangement on the basis of North and South for the presidency and rotation along senatorial zones for the governorship.
The recommendation submitted before the reform panel at its sitting in Abuja may also bring to the fore again the contentious issue of tenure of president and governors.
The 1999 Constitution in operation in the country okays two terms of four years each for president and governors.
In its eleven-page recommendation signed by PDP National Chairman Vincent Ogbulafor but presented by National Publicity Secretary Ahmed Rufai Alkali, the party said in view of the fact that incumbency had become a major obstacle; calling on incumbents to resign before elections no doubt would create anarchy and disorder.
In this regard, "PDP therefore recommends a system of tenure of seven years for President, six years for governors and three years for local government chairmen. In the case of the Houses of Assembly and National Assembly, candidates may continue to seek re-election as long as they are electable."
The party also recommends a six-month interval between election and swearing-in to enable all petitions to be disposed off before winners assume office.
According to the party, the presidency should rotate between the North and South, while the governorship should rotate among the senatorial zones.
PDP also called for the de-registration of political parties that fail to win at least 10 per cent seats in the National Assembly.
This, it said, became necessary if the party must enjoy financial support and recognition of the electoral body.
Also, the party recommended proportional representation for women at the electoral, administrative and all executive levels, while urging the electoral panel to propose the Open Ballot System for the country in the interim until the country becomes politically matured.
Meanwhile, the Arewa Consultative Forum (ACF) and the Middle Belt Forum (MBF) have called for the re-introduction of the Option A4 introduced by the regime of General Ibrahim Babangida.
In separate papers presented by General I.B.M. Haruna and Chief Isaac Shaahu for the ACF and MBF respectively, they described Option A4 as the best electoral system capable of eliminating rigging and other electoral vices.
Both ACF and MBF also advocated a two-party system and the scrapping of state electoral commissions.
While ACF called for stiff punishment for electoral offenders including jail terms of up to 21 years, MBF called for a 2-year punishment for all categories of electoral offenders, including INEC officials.
MBF further called for the inclusion of Electronic Voting Machine, while people with physical disabilities supported the call for electronic voting with a modification for Electronic Audio Voting System to help the dumb, deaf and blind in casting their voting.
The chairman of the group, Brandison Hart, said that this became necessary because there were over 19 million Nigerians that are physically challenged.
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Please keep 4 years as the tenure to serve as president in Nigeria.Why should the PDP be made the only party in Nigeria. I have not heard about a country practicing democracy to be a one party system. That is why people especially in the USA are reffering to Nigeria's democracy practice as a BIG JOKE. Before they can make this kind of decisions, other parties have to be included. We have not started practicing democracy in the country . lET THE PEOPLE HAVE THE RIGHT TO CHOOSE WHO THEY WANT TO RULE THEM. Nigeria is not Zimbabwe.
What is needed is not a seven year single term but a six year single term, rotated on a North-South basis with the rotation conditioned in such a way as to allow the six geo-political zones to be able to participate in the presidency. For example, the rotation can alternate between the North and the South, but be arranged in such a way that it goes from the Northwest to the Southwest, from the Northcentral to the South-South and from the North East to the South-East and back again. This way no one can cry of marginalisation.
Seven years is a very long time for any single term presidency. The point of a six year single-term would be that the president uses two years to learn the ropes and the remaining four years to get his work done. Six years would also allow the country to get rid of a non-performing or irresponsible president quickly. Besides this, it would allow the rotation thing to work without a very long hitch.;
There are more important issues facing the country such as energy, water supply, railway, steel industry etc.Why do we need seven year term for the president? The older democracies like Britain, USA, France, Germany have tested democracy longer than Nigeria,and have come to the conclusion that four years term of two terms is good enough for any good regime.Why do we need to sentence ourself to seven years term of suffering for any bad administration.If an administration is good we could vote it in for a second term of another four years.Instead of waisting time on this question of longer term,let us talk of legalizing the two party system like in USA,and Britain so that we can have an alternative govt to check the excesses of any bad govt.This is better than having 50 parties none of which can costitute an alternative govt
There are more important issues facing the country such as energy, water supply, railway, steel industry etc.Why do we need seven year term for the president? The older democracies like Britain, USA, France, Germany have tested democracy longer than Nigeria,and have come to the conclusion that four years term of two terms is good enough for any good regime.Why do we need to sentence ourself to seven years term of suffering for any bad administration.If an administration is good we could vote it in for a second term of another four years.Instead of waisting time on this question of longer term,let us talk of legalizing the two party system like in USA,and Britain so that we can have an alternative govt to check the excesses of any bad govt.This is better than having 50 parties none of which can costitute an alternative govt