IBADAN( PRECISE POST) – Governor of Oyo state, Seyi Makinde, has advocated a single term of six years for elected political office holders across all levels of government in Nigeria, as against the current double term of four years each.
He noted that a single term of five or six years was enough for any government to focus and serve the people, and deliver on its mandate.
He called for a constitutional amendment to effect this.
“I was just looking at the trajectory for me in government. I have spent six years already, and due to no fault of anybody, we lost the year 2020 because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
“We lost almost one year, campaigning all over the place for the second tenure. Now, people have started distracting us from what we want to do next and all of that. So, I feel that, effectively, the time we can say we are very serious with governance is just about five out of the eight years.
“That is why I feel that if you remove all these distractions, a single tenure of five or six years is actually enough to focus and do the work that we are trying to do in eight years,” he said when Muslim faithful, including clerics, traditional rulers and political office holders, paid a visit to his Ikolaba, Ibadan residence, shortly after the Eid-el-Kabir prayers, held at the Eid Ground, Agodi, Ibadan, on Friday.
He said though his proposal was a constitutional issue, it was a model that should work for the country.
“Well, we shouldn’t be afraid to say the fact based on data that is available to us. It has nothing to do with me. If they say I should end it, so be it.
“So, I am just calling the attention of our people to this because it is a constitutional issue. We should start looking at it. I know that it has been brought to the attention of the National Assembly, but, quite frankly, it is a model that should work for this country,” he said.
The delegation, led by the Deputy Governor, Abdulraheem Lawal, included the Otun Olubadan of Ibadanland, Senator Rashidi Ladoja; former deputy governor and Peoples Democratic Party Deputy National Chairman, Taofeek Arapaja; and two other former deputy governors, Hazeem Gbolarumi and Hamid Gbadamosi.
Also present were the member representing Ibadan North-East/South-East Federal Constituency, Abass Agboworin, and the Aare Musulumi of Yorubaland, Edo, and Delta States, Alhaji Dawodu Makanjuola, among others.
Addressing the delegation, Governor Makinde congratulated the Muslim faithful on witnessing the 2025 Eid-el-Kabir and thanked them for their prayers and commitment to the state as well as their unflinching support for him and his government over the past six years, urging them to continue praying for the success of his administration.
Delivering the message of the Olubadan, Ladoja, called for more support for the government and prayed for more success and achievements for Governor Makinde’s administration.
While speaking with newsmen after the Eid prayer, Lawal urged the Muslim Ummah to always exhibit the valuable lessons of obedience, trust, and true sacrifice to the will of God, which are the doctrines and lessons taught by the Holy Quran.
He thanked the governor for his commitment to the welfare of workers and the people of Oyo State through prompt payment of salaries and called for more cooperation from the people of the state so that dividends of democracy would be further delivered.
While offering special prayers for Makinde, Oloso prayed for more success for the administration.
He also expressed the appreciation of the Muslim community in the state to the governor for his unwavering support.
Single-Term Tenure
A file photo of members of the House of Reps. Photo: X@HouseNGR
There had been calls by some Nigerians for the current tenure of the President and governors of the 36 states to be reduced from two terms of four years each to a single term of six years.
In October 2024, a former vice president and 2023 presidential candidate of the PDP, Atiku Abubakar, proposed a six-year single-term rotational presidency between the southern and northern regions of Nigeria.
Atiku, in a letter to the Deputy Senate President, Jibrin Barau, who is the Chairman of the Senate Committee on Constitution Review, sought that his proposal be considered in the ongoing constitutional amendment process by the National Assembly.
He sought that paragraph ‘a’ be added to Section 130 (1) of the 1999 Constitution to read, “The office of the President shall rotate among the six geopolitical zones of the Federation on a single term of six years flowing between the North and South on the single term of six years respectively.”
He also sought that Section 135 (2) be amended to read, “Subject to the provisions of subsection 1, the President shall vacate his office at the expiration of a period of six years commencing from the date when he has been elected to such office before.”
However, in November 2024, the House of Representatives rejected a bill for an Act to alter the provisions of the Constitution to create a single term of six years for the office of President and state governors.
The bill sponsored by Ikenga Ugochinyere sought to recognise the division of Nigeria into the six geopolitical zones and provide for the rotation of the office of the President, state governor, and chairmen of local government councils.
The bill also sought to make it possible for all elections in the country to be held on a single day.
When the bill, which was scheduled for the second reading, was put to vote, the majority of the lawmakers voted against it.
That was not the first time the House would reject a bill seeking a six-year single term for president and governors.
In 2019, the bill which was then sponsored by John Dyegh from Benue State, also failed to progress to the second reading.
The governor of Anambra State, Prof Chukwuma Soludo, had also backed the calls for single term for elected politicians.
Soludo said, “Sometimes, these conversations about single term might begin to make some sense so that you fix it, whether you say four years or five years, six years, seven years, single term.
“So, you are not thinking about the next election once you finish getting into this. I face that all day in my state. You want to get into this (project), they say, ‘No, wait, you know you have an election’. And I say, ‘No, let’s get it, if we get there, we get there and if we lose, we lose.”
