Alhaji Bala Muhammed, a former national secretary of the de-registered Progressive Action Congress, PAC, has supported the Senate for rejecting a proposed constitutional amendment for single six-year tenure for the president and governors.
Bala expressed his views in Abuja.
He said there was nothing wrong with the current four-year tenure as stipulated by the constitution.
Bala said that democracy had many variant forms, adding that there was no perfect democracy in the world as it depended on individual countries.
He stated that what mattered was good governance, protection of fundamental human rights, viable processes and procedure for elections.
He said that tenure elongation could only be achieved if the citizens were in support and accepted such developments.
Bala said that some democracies operated parliamentary system of government; some were fashioned along the presidential system, while some operated a mix of both like France.
He said that tenure elongation was provided for in the constitutions of the various countries, adding that some opted for four years, some five years, some six years, while some had seven years depending on their constitutions.
He said that the situation in Nigeria did not permit tenure elongation because of suspicions and the desire of incumbency to impose certain matters on the people.
“I believe that anybody’s performance will always speak for that person irrespective of that person’s position.
“If the person performs well, he or she will have the chance of coming back for tenure of four years,” he said.
Bala recalled that Nigeria practiced four-year tenure during Alhaji Shehu Shagari’s administration, noting that the system worked perfectly well for the country.
He said that the length of tenure did not matter; adding that what mattered was performance. (NAN)