Tenure Bill: Jonathan, emerging Dictator -CNPP
Goodluck Jonathan
Conference of Nigerian Political Parties (CNPP) warned that Nigerians should be on the lookout as the proposed single term Bill by President Goodluck Jonathan could be the making of another dictator. on Sunday, as the fury generated by his six-year single tenure plan concentrates minds away from the pressing national matters of infrastructure and security.
National Publicity Secretary of CNPP, Osita Okechukwu, at a press conference in Enugu said that the body language, mannerism, and antecedents of Jonathan lead to the conclusion that he is an emerging dictator with traits of Cameroonian President Paul Biya and Senegalese President Abdoulaye Wade.
Okechukwu who described President Jonathan as a liar, who has never kept any promise to Nigerians, noted that some men on their route to power look humble, honest, and un-ambitious until they get to office.
He stated that such men, often exploit the poverty among the citizens, the dichotomy of religion and ethnicity, cultivate a rubber stamp legislature, and encourage schism in the opposition, all evidenced in Jonathan's conduct.
H e recalled that Jonathan, in his quest for the Presidency, breached the PDP zoning arrangement he had supported, another trait of would-be dictators.
Okechukwu wondered why a President faced with a raft of urgent national concerns, including the request of Governors for fiscal federalism and devolution of power from the centre to the federating units, would make tenure elongation his first executive Bill.
In his words: “We are witnesses to how Jonathan came to power innocently, harmlessly, and unexpectedly, and how his party and former President Olusegun Obasanjo, at variance with the Constitution, broadened the poverty in the land, widened the gap between the rich and the poor and how religion and ethnicity were exploited to enthrone Jonathan.
“We are also witnesses to how as (Bayelsa) Deputy Governor, Jonathan endorsed the zoning convention of his party, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), only to violently violate the same agreement barely a decade later.
“We cannot forget as well how Jonathan as Acting President promised the Save Nigeria Group (SNG) and indeed Nigerians that he would fully implement the Uwais Electoral Committee report if confirmed as president. A promise fulfilled in the breach.
“It is interesting to note that the Uwais report rejected single tenure elongation and it is the theatre of the absurd for a President that rejected the core recommendations of the report to choose an item the Uwais Committee rejected.”
Okechukwu also recalled how Jonathan had promised Nigerians to fight the war against corruption, only to authorise his Attorney General to launch a gazette that emasculates the anti-graft agencies, protects former Presidents, Governors, and Ministers.
“In the tradition of African big men, we have seen our President, in spite of public outcry, appointing some known corrupt people into sensitive offices as Ministers and heads of departments and agencies.”
He said like most Nigerians, the CNPP does not trust Jonathan's declaration that he would not benefit from the tenure elongation.
He called on democrats to enlist in the Stop Jonathan Campaign on [email protected] mailto:[email protected] which is a non-violent agitation to prevent Jonathan from staying put in the Villa.