Makinde Proposes Single 6-Year Term For Presidents, Govs

Oyo State Governor, Seyi Makinde, on Friday, called for a constitutional amendment that would allow elected political office holders to serve only a single term of five or six years, rather than the current two-term structure of four years each.

The Governor made the proposal while receiving Muslim faithful, traditional rulers, and political stakeholders at his private residence in Ikolaba, Ibadan, shortly after the Eid-el-Kabir prayers.

Speaking at the event, Makinde said a single term would eliminate distractions associated with seeking re-election and allow public officeholders to fully focus on governance.

Makinde emphasized that his suggestion was not self-serving but based on his personal experience and observation of governance trends in Nigeria.

“First, let me use this opportunity to say Barka Da Sallah to our Muslim faithful, and we shall have the opportunity to celebrate many more by the grace of God.

“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,” he said.

“We lost almost one year, campaigning all over the place for the second tenure. Now, people have started distracting us from what I 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.

“Well, we shouldn’t be afraid to say the fact based on the data that is available to us. It has nothing to do with me. If they say I should end it, so be it.

“I am 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 added.