PRESIDENT Goodluck Jonathan regrets that his proposed seven-year single tenure for the president was widely misunderstood to mean self ambition to remain in power.

According to him, the proposal has been misunderstood by those who think he wants to add that term to his current one.

President Jonathan

Jonathan was speaking to Mr. Alain Juppe, French Foreign Minister, who visited the State House, as part of the activities of his visit to Nigeria.

“My proposal for a single seven-year tenure is anchored on the need for an incumbent president to focus maximum attention on the execution of his development programmes, instead of expending vital energy on re-election issues, though this has been misunderstood to mean I want additional seven years”, the president clarified.

He noted that political stability has returned to Africa, although in some African countries the major challenge remained the attempt by the incumbents to stay in power beyond constitutional mandates, or to insist on anointing their successors. While deploring this, Jonathan pointed out that much progress is being made across the continent, and that Africa’s success stories should be encouraged.