Former vice-president Atiku Abubakar and President Tinubu are in a toxic throuple. If you’re wondering who the third person in the trio is, it’s you because you’re about to find out all their dirty business.
In case you didn’t know Atiku and Tinubu were competitors during the 2023 presidential election but you already know how that story ends. Ever since then, Atiku has been vocal about Tinubu’s shortcomings. Some say he’s a sore loser, and others say he’s a concerned Nigerian. I say he’s a little bit of both.
Recently, Atiku presented a constitutional idea that you might like but Tinubu will definitely hate and he’s sent it to the National Assembly to make things legal.
What is Atiku’s bright idea?
Atiku is suggesting that presidents and governors should now be allowed to serve for only one term and that term should last for six years. For extra context, Nigerian leaders are currently allowed to serve for two terms with each term lasting for four years.
Before you go “Hope Atiku is not mad?”, you should know that what the Tinubu-led administration is proposing is worse. Lawmakers are currently trying to extend each term to six years and retain the constitutional right for a president to serve for two terms, making 12 years in total. You should also know that the bill has already passed its first reading. So as far as poisons are concerned, Atiku’s poison wins this round.
And there’s more
Another thing Atiku is proposing is that the role of the president is constitutionally rotated periodically between the six geopolitical zones in Nigeria so we’ll never have to worry about a presidential candidate demanding votes like it’s a birthright.
He also suggested that candidates should start submitting their educational certificates to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC). If they’ve lost their certificates, they can submit an affidavit explaining their qualifications, when they got them, and where they studied.
This lowkey feels like a direct attack on Tinubu whose university certificate submitted to INEC could not be confirmed or disclaimed by the university he “attended”. But that didn’t matter because, under the Nigerian constitution, a presidential candidate is only required to have at least a school leaving certificate.
The part where it gets messy is that President Tinubu didn’t submit that either. His entire education record is very controversial – from claims of gender swaps to inconsistencies in his date of birth. According to the court, he’s educated but with small touch of false information that are being referred to as “clerical error”.
Why should you care?
Just this year alone, the news of constitutional amendments to extend the term of leadership to six years has surfaced twice. In Nigeria, we’ve done more with less. This is the same country where the national anthem was changed overnight. So don’t be surprised if you wake up one day to find out that they’ve successfully amended the constitution.
You should care because this can either catch you by surprise or you can be an active participant in the decision by making sure that young people are not left out of these conversations. And if you’re not sure how young Nigerians fit into constitutional conversations, read this.
