Gov. Makinde Calls For Six-year Single Term For President, Governors

Governor Seyi Makinde of Oyo state has called for a single term of five or six years for elected political office holders across all levels of government in Nigeria.

He made this called against the current double term of four years each stipulated by the constitution.

He made this known while playing host to Muslim faithful, alongside traditional rulers and political office holders in his Ikolaba private residence in Ibadan, the state capital, shortly after the Eid-el-Kabir prayers.

The delegation was led by the state Deputy Governor, Bayo Lawal.

While speaking, the governor explained that a single term of five or six years is enough for any government to focus and serve the people and deliver on its mandate.

Makinde, therefore, called for a constitutional amendment to effect this.

“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.

“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.

“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.”