Northern Elders Forum rejects 6-year single tenure

Abdullahi

“We in the north remain stoutly opposed to the proposed six-year singled tenure for President and governors in Nigeria, and will never support it because it is a double-edged sword that can make a tyrannical President to continuously oppress the defenseless citizenry without any remedy,” the Secretary of the Northern Elders’ Forum (NEF), Prof Ango Abdullahi, said on Monday.

NEF voiced its opposition to the plan, claiming that it was unacceptable to the people of the region. “If you have a bad president, who does not believe in the welfare and progress of the nation it means that the people would have no way of asking him to step aside until the end of gruesome six-year tenure," Abdullahi said, declaring that “the people of the north are comfortable with the current provision of four-year renewable tenure based on performance and acceptance of the electorate so that a non-performing president can be voted out after the first tenure."

Asking the Nigerian lawmakers to perish the thought of the controversial amendment, Abdullahi pointed out that they should work on more beneficial laws to tackle rising monumental corruption and security challenges in the land.