Written by John Arechenu
The Founding National Chairman of the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA), Chief Chekwas Okolie, has said that what Nigeria urgently needs is restructuring and a reliable executive branch, rather than a six-year single mandate as proposed by the former Vice President. He said it was an electoral process. Atiku Abubakar.
Mr. Atiku submitted a memorandum to the National Assembly’s Constitutional Revision Committee, advocating that the presidential term be set at six years.
In a phone interview with Vanguard, Okolie explained that the idea of a single six-year period is not new, noting that many things have changed for the worse since the proposal was first raised 20 years ago. .
He noted that the late Vice President Alex Ekwueme made a similar proposal during the 1994 National Conference convened by the late Head of State Sani Abacha.
Okolie said: “While I am not totally opposed to the idea of a six-year term, I believe that the pressing need for Nigeria is restructuring to give all its citizens a sense of belonging.” he said.
“What we need now is a reliable, technology-driven election process where people’s votes truly count, not the current flawed system.
“You may remember that in 1994, at the national conference hosted by General Abacha, Alex Ekwueme proposed a six-year single term. If we had implemented it, the Presidency would be It would have rotated between six geopolitical zones, and after 36 years, it would have rotated in each region.”The zones would have produced a president. This may have reduced fears of domination and diminished the perception that certain regions were treated as second-class citizens. ”
Mr. Okolie further referred to the 2014 national conference hosted by former President Goodluck Jonathan, where an agreement was reached on 660 items, including restructuring, but lamented that Jonathan lacked the courage to implement the recommendations. .
“Nigeria needs to be restructured in a way that makes the presidency less attractive,” he concluded. California, for example, is the wealthiest state in the United States, but its union system works so effectively that there is no movement to leave the union. ”
