Opeyemi Bamidele, the Senate majority leader, says he will sponsor a bill seeking a single six-year tenure for presidents and governors if he returns to the Senate in the next assembly.
The senator representing Ekiti Central said the proposed legislation would allow elected leaders to focus on governance rather than re-election campaigns.
Speaking in an interview with AIT, Bamidele argued that the current four-year renewable tenure encourages officeholders to begin planning for a second term shortly after assuming office.
“One of the first sets of bills that I look forward to moving, by God’s grace, when we come back for the 11th Senate, God willing, is a bill that will only make it possible for anyone who wants to be president of this country or governor in any part of this country to spend only one term of six years,” he said.
According to him, a single tenure would eliminate the distractions associated with seeking re-election.
“You don’t even have to worry about wasting almost one and a half years of your first term thinking and struggling and looking forward to how you’ll be re-elected,” he said.
“If you know you are there for six years, only one tenure, you’re putting your best from day one. You know this is the only chance that you have.”
POSSIBLE OPPOSITION
Bamidele acknowledged that the proposal may not enjoy universal support but maintained that lawmakers have a responsibility to initiate reforms they believe would strengthen governance.
“That’s my opinion. It doesn’t mean everybody will agree with me, but it also does not mean that I am prevented from doing that because that has not been the law,” he said.
“The essence of law, the essence of parliament, is that laws are like human beings. They grow.”
The idea of a single six-year term for presidents and governors has surfaced repeatedly in Nigeria’s constitutional reform debates, with supporters arguing that it would reduce political tension and allow leaders to concentrate on delivering their mandates. Critics, however, contend that it could weaken electoral accountability by denying voters the opportunity to either renew or withdraw a leader’s mandate after four years.
