Nigeria should test single six-year tenure — Wayas

Second Republic former Senate President, Dr. Joseph Wayas, has urged the National Assembly to put to test the proposed single six-year tenure for the President and governors to enable lawmakers know its strengths and weaknesses.

He also advised political parties to keep to the provisions of the Electoral Act which forbids early campaigning before elections.

Wayas spoke with SUNDAY PUNCH in Abuja on Saturday during the official inauguration of Millennium Development Goals/The Albino Foundation M-Empower Project where he represented ex-President Shehu Shagari.

Wayas said, “It is too early to say which is better until you try the single six-year tenure.

“The (single) six years being proposed now can be tried. At the end of it, Nigerians will be able to say ‘four years was better or six years is better,’ that is how I see it.

“I am one of the writers of the presidential constitution and I remember that I presided over the various aspects and chapters of the constitution. The one that received a lot of discussions was this issue of single term. Of course, we were coming out of a parliamentary system into a presidential democracy. But now, we’ve gathered the experience.

“Two terms have both positive and negative sides. Two terms give an opportunity to somebody to show his skill in the first term in order to get the second term.

“On the other side of the coin is also the fact that if somebody is not skillful or good enough and you give him longer time, he will be dwelling in pains and confusion. So we looked at it and said four years is good enough for somebody who is promising to show his skills and then be given another chance. But it is debatable, maybe after trying the two, we can then pick one.”

Speaking on early campaigns contrary to the directive of the Independent National Electoral Commission, Wayas said although there was nothing wrong with it, it was necessary to cooperate with INEC .

“You know that we went through a lot of with military interventions. The only thing that can bring sanity into democracy is by keeping to the rules,” he said.

source: http://www.punchng.com/news/nigeria-should-test-single-six-year-tenure-wayas/