2027: Duke calls for revision of constitutional requirements for presidency

… He states that every federating unit should also be an economic unit

Peoples Redemption Party (PRP) presidential candidate and former governor of Cross River State, Donald Duke, has called for a review of Nigeria’s constitutional requirements for electing a president, arguing that the existing arrangement can produce a government without the support of a majority of voters.

Duke said Nigeria also needs to rethink the structure of its political parties and governing philosophy, arguing that the presidential system works best with two strong political blocs while governments should be judged primarily on their ability to make citizens and constituent states productive.

“This is why we really need to revise the Constitution, because those who put it together probably didn’t understand these fundamentals,” he said.

Duke argued in an interview on Tuesday that Nigeria had not sufficiently appreciated the difference between presidential and parliamentary systems and the implications for political competition.

“Those of us living in the democratic space in Nigeria today don’t really understand how it works.

“There are different ways of expressing oneself democratically. But for the system we manage, the presidential one, the path to success is different from that of Westminster, for example.

“In the Westminster system you can have different parties. The ability to form a government is that, if you are a minority, if you don’t have all the required number of seats in parliament, you can put together an opposition.

“Presidential elections are different.”

According to him, the fragmentation of the opposition gives a considerable advantage to the incumbent president because Nigeria does not require the eventual winner to obtain an absolute majority of all valid votes cast.

“The important thing is that if you want a true presidential system of government, you should only have two main parties, right? One incumbent and one opposition.

“Once you, as I said, balkanize or split the opposition, you will lose the ball. The current president will always have it.”

He cited the 2023 presidential election, saying: “It will still be a minority government. It will not get a majority of votes cast on election day. Last time we had about 36-37%.

“So that scenario could happen again. It could even be lower. It could get maybe 25 and all that. But because they’re fractured, all you’d be trying to do is get 25% in two-thirds of the states and a simple majority.

“He doesn’t need to get eight million votes, he could just get 10 more votes, five more votes than every other person.

“And that’s one of the flaws of the electoral system. It’s not designed for a presidential system.”

Under Article 134 of the Constitution, when there are more than two presidential candidates, the winner must obtain the highest number of votes cast nationwide and comply with the prescribed geographical distribution. The provision does not require the winner to obtain more than 50% of all valid votes.

Duke said the proliferation of political parties was exacerbated by the absence of clearly defined ideological differences between them.

“We have no ideological position in our politics. They are just platforms. We have not developed to the point of defending certain ideologies.

“So these platforms have no ideological basis. And that’s why you have people swarming back and forth.”

He recalled the SDP/NRC experiment of the failed Third Republic, saying there was “a certain philosophical correctness” in having two broad political blocs, even as he criticized the military government’s role in creating parties.

“Normally parties form governments. But in this case the government formed the party.”

Duke said that beyond restructuring electoral competition, Nigeria needs a different understanding of what government itself exists to accomplish.

“What I find, the synergy I find with the PRP, is that it articulates something that I have always believed: that the core essence, the core function of government is the optimal productivity of our citizens in a safe and orderly environment.

“I think that’s the purpose of government. Not just to allow people to administer or supervise people, but to ensure that they are productive in a safe and orderly environment.”

As a result, he said education, healthcare and infrastructure should be treated as investments in people’s productive capacity.

“This is why we send children to school. This is why we send them to hospitals. We build infrastructure. All for the productivity of our citizens.”

“This is the mission of government. It changes the way we see the dynamics of government.”

Duke said the same philosophy should apply to Nigeria’s 36 states, arguing that each should exploit its comparative advantages and develop an economy rather than functioning primarily as an administrative unit.

Recalling his tenure as governor of Cross River between 1999 and 2007, he said: “We wanted to demonstrate that this could happen. We wanted to demonstrate that every federating unit in this country could also be an economic unit.

“So we took our strengths, right? Agriculture, we have an incredible land mass. But beyond that, we took a low-hanging fruit like tourism, which everyone thought wasn’t going to work.

“And it worked spectacularly.

“It can be done. This spirit of will has already been demonstrated in the past.”

For Duke, the test should be whether an activity legitimately generates value and lifts citizens above poverty.

“Once you have something that others legitimately want – and the word here is legitimately – then you are productive.

“If by making Afang soup we can make our people live a good life, not below the poverty level, do it.”

“Tinapa was one of the things we built in Cross River. It was a dream. To the extent that it was commissioned a month before I left office, it was successful.”

Duke argued that electoral reform, vital political competition, and economic productivity must ultimately converge toward one goal: improving the lot of citizens.

“The government must ensure that they are productive in a safe and orderly environment,” he said.