Second President of Cameroon Whose Terms of Office Continued Into 2012
I know it may sound too odd hearing someone say that he loves Nigerian Leadership.
But when you think outside the box, and remember the leadership of some other African Countries, then you would be compelled to love the leadership in Nigeria.
After then, you would really understand that Nigerians are even very lucky.
This is because rotation or change of leadership is one of the greatest joy of the citizens of a country; and you know you know what it means for the joy of the citizens to tampered.
Remember, through rotation or change of leadership, there is always hope that a leader can emerge from any region of the country at any time.
Of course, there is always a joy hearing the popular saying that theyouths are the leaders of tomorrow;but this is most possible if there is good rotation or change of power or if there is tenure limit.
But rotation or change of leadership may become very difficult to actualize if there is no limit of terms in any political leadership.
The President Of Cameroon Has Ruled For 38 Years
It always sound deplorable to me hearing that the president of Cameroon has ruled for 38 years without change of leadership.
Then I would always ask; does it mean there is no other credible citizen that can replace him?
Cameroon is a country located in the central and west Africa, and known as the hinge of Africa, on the Bight of Bonny, part of the Gulf of Guinea and Atlantic Ocean.
Paul Biya is always regarded as the second president of Cameroon, and still the current president till date.
He is a native of Cameroon's South who assume the seat of presidency since 6th November, 1982 and still the president of Cameroon till today, making him the second-longest-ruling president in Africa.
In several years, presidential election had been held in Cameroon - in the years 1992, 1997, 2004, 2011, and 2018; but Biya is always a presidential candidate, and always win the election with wide margin.
It doesn't mean there was no tenure limit in Cameroon; just like many other countries in Africa, there was Term (Tenure) limit of leadership in Cameroon according to their 1996 constitution.
But in 2008, Biya made a move to revising the Constitution so that there will be no term limit for leadership.
In his 2008 New year's message, Biya made a statement saying, "it was undemocratic to limit the people's choice".
This generated a lot of controversies from the citizens, but at the end, he later succeeded in removing the term limit.
That is why he has continued contesting and winning the seat of the presidency for up to 38 years, even till date.
Biya's Oppositions
Just like politics in other countries, there will always be Oppositions and critics to criticize any Government on power, whether the government is doing good or not.
Of course, for Biya to have being on seat for 38 years is enough to have strong Oppositions and critics.
But even in all these, he still continued contesting and winning in every presidential election.
Biya is sometimes characterized as a loof, making relatively few public appearances.
Since the early 1990s, he has faced his strongest opposition from the Anglophone population of the former Southern Cameroons in the western part of the country.
"Tyrants, the World's 20 Worst Living Dictators", by David Wallechinsky, ranked Biya with three others commonly in sub-Saharan Africa: Robert Mugabe of Zimbabwe, Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo of Equatorial Guinea, and King Mswati of Swaziland.
He describes Cameroon's electoral process in these terms: "Every few years, Biya stages an election to justify his continuing reign, but these elections have no credibility.
In fact, Biya is credited with a creative innovation in the world of phony elections.
In February 2008, he passed a bill that allows for having an additional term in office as president which was followed by civil unrests throughout the country.
The main violent riots took place in the Western, English-speaking part of the country starting with a "strike" initiated by taxi drivers in Douala, allegedly causing more than 200 casualties in the end.
In 2009, Biya was ranked 19th in Parade Magazine's Top 20 list of "The World's Worst Dictators".
Nigerians Are Very Lucky
No matter how bad a leader may be, there is always hope if there is tenure limit; this is because tenure limit makes it possible for a change of government to set in, which is always a source of hope for a better government.
When there is no tenure limit, it becomes very difficult for anyone in power to leave the seat.
So, what if the one in power is a wicked leader? It then means that the citizens will continue to suffer bad leadership.
For a president to rule a country for 38 years, does it now mean that there is no other credible citizen that can handle the seat of the presidency?
Nigerian politics is very tough today even while there is tenure limit - just 8 years in seat; imagine if there is no tenure limit in Nigeria.
What do you think would be the condition of the citizens?
So since there is tenure limit in Nigeria, there is much hope that good governance would come in through the right person one day.
Hence with tenure limit, the popular saying, "The youths are the leadersnof tommorow", becomes more possible in Nigeria.
So what is your view on this?
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Source: https://ng.opera.news/ng/en/politics/d1e5c22b6898c634504e4bf4b9e59359
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