Jonathan, on Sunday, November 22, in the United States of America, took a swipe at former President, Olusegun Obasanjo over his third term bid, stating that if not for a vibrant National Assembly, the Elder statesman would have had his way
Jonathan spoke in the United States at an event titled: “Presidential elections and democratic consolidation in Africa: Case studies on Nigeria and Tanzania” and co-hosted by National Democratic Institute (NDI) and the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS).
He said the strong resistance of the Nigerian National Assembly actually frustrated the third term bid of former President Olusegun Obasanjo.
“Of course, I was a governor at that time under the People’s Democratic Party (PDP), the same party as Obasanjo, but due to strong resistance from the National Assembly, the third term bid failed.”
According to Jonathan, Africa needs strong parliaments to checkmate sit-tight presidents who influence parliaments to consider amendment to the constitution that would extend their stay in office.
“Changing constitutions to eliminate term limits in order to favour incumbents is inconsistent with democratic principles and reduces confidence in democratic institutions.”
He further noted that although some leaders in Africa are still able to manipulate their way to elongate their tenure, the people are increasingly raising their awareness and African parliaments are becoming stronger to be able to resist such tendencies in future.
He made reference to Burkina Faso, where he noted that although the parliament approved an extra term for the former president, the people resisted that, forcing the president and speaker of the parliament to go on exile.