Buhari insists he will not elongate his tenure as being suggested
By Jeph Ajobaju, Chief Copy Editor
Muhammadu Buhari has scoffed at suggestion he elongates his tenure beyond eight years, insisting he will leave the Villa on 29 May 2023, even though the Constitution allows him to stay longer, as canvassed by Robert Clarke, SAN.
Clarke argued on ARISE TV on Monday that the Constitution permits the President to extend his tenure for six months, in the first instance, if he feels conditions are not good to conduct elections.
His words: “The Constitution provides that the President can stay longer than eight years. I’ve always said it. It is in the Constitution.
“If the situation in which we’re in now continues, and it is impossible to vote in the 2023 election, the Constitution says if a situation persists, the President will write INEC in view of all insurgencies, in view of kidnappings, in view of Boko Haram, I don’t think in these different areas of Nigeria, we can have a good election.
“The Constitution says I am going to stay for six months and in the first instance.
“So, the fact that the Constitution says the President cannot stay for more than eight years is wrong. Because the same Constitution says he can be giving himself six months if those conditions persist.
“Now, I don’t see any green light. I don’t see how what is happening today can be stopped within a period of six months from today or before February next year when the elections will be held.
“The alternative then is for Mr. President to continue as President, allow the security watches to carry up the mopping up and Nigeria will become stable.”
Clarke’s faulty logic
What Clarke, 84, fails to factor in is that a President with the mindset of Sani Abacha in Nigeria or Donald Trump in the United States can deliberately create the conditions for him to extend his stay in office.
Because a provision is in the Constitution does not make it safe. Or that it cannot be abused. If all Constitutions were perfect none would need to be amended.
Clarke also fails to see that Buhari has negligently let Nigeria plunge further into insecurity and economic malaise in the seven years of his governance – despite wise counsel and agitation from reasonable people at home and abroad.
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Any guarantee Buhari will keep his word?
Buhari equally turned down the suggestion by Afe Babalola, SAN that the 2023 election until a new Constitution is written.
He has rejected those ideas – for now – but there is nothing to say that he cannot change his mind to stay longer in office, particularly when other vested interests who do not mean well for Nigeria start to push the case.
A statement Buhari issued through his spokesman Garba Shehu also reiterated that calls to suspend the election for an interim government will not happen.
“Robert Clarke, a very well-respected elder, may be sincere in his wish for the President to extend his term by six months.
”We wish to categorically restate that the President will step down on May 29th, 2023, after serving two terms – as per the Constitution.
“Having been the first recipient of a democratic transfer of power from an incumbent administration to an opposition candidate in Nigerian history, the President is committed to extending and entrenching democratic values across the country.
“He shall, in turn, hand the privilege of serving the people of Nigeria to whomever they choose through free, fair and credible elections,” the statement said, per reporting by Nairametrics.
No interim government
Buhari added that Clarke is right to say that without security, Nigeria would not likely realise its true potential as a peaceful and prosperous nation.
“That is why it has been at the core of this administration, as Boko Haram has been forced back from controlling whole swathes of the country and Internally Displaced Persons are now returning to rebuild their communities.”
He maintained that until the last day of his administration, the security of citizens shall remain his paramount concern.
“Yet there are others, such as Afe Babalola, that believe elections should be suspended, with the current elected government replaced by an interim unelected administration.
“This, he claims, is necessary to create a new Constitution for the people, made possible, paradoxically, by ignoring their democratic rights. Down that path lies crisis and instability.
“Instead, this administration proposes something entirely simpler: honouring the Constitution and people’s right to decide.”
