KEY POINTS
- Bamidele plans a bill for a single six-year term for presidents and governors.
- He says the change would remove the distraction of campaigning for a second term.
- The proposal would require amending the 1999 Constitution and approval by two-thirds of state assemblies.
Senate Leader Opeyemi Bamidele has disclosed plans to sponsor a bill that would introduce a single six-year term for presidents and governors, a change he says would let elected leaders focus on governance rather than re-election politics. He revealed the proposal during an interview with journalists in his office on Tuesday, naming it among the first bills he intends to introduce in the next Senate after the 2027 general elections.
Why Bamidele wants one tenure
Nigeria currently runs a two-term system, under which presidents and governors may serve a maximum of two four-year terms. However, the Senate Leader argued that the arrangement often pushes officials to start plotting for a second term barely midway into their first, which diverts attention from governance.
According to Bamidele, a single six-year tenure would remove that pressure. “So that 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. Moreover, he argued that certainty sharpens performance. “If you know you are there for six years, only one tenure, you put in your best from day one. You know this is the only chance that you have,” he said.
A familiar debate set to reopen
The lawmaker acknowledged that the proposal may divide opinion, yet he insisted that Parliament must keep pursuing governance reforms. “It doesn’t mean everybody will agree with me. But it also does not mean that I am prevented from doing that,” he said. Furthermore, he stressed that laws must evolve, adding, “The essence of law, the essence of parliament, is that laws are like human beings; they grow.”
Indeed, similar single-term proposals have surfaced repeatedly since Nigeria returned to democracy in 1999. Notably, former Vice President and African Democratic Congress candidate Atiku Abubakar recently advocated a six-year single term, with the presidency rotated among the six geopolitical zones, and pledged to prioritize the amendment if elected.
Critics, however, counter that a second-term option lets voters reward strong performance or remove underperforming leaders at the polls. Ultimately, if the National Assembly introduces and passes the bill, it would require far-reaching amendments to the 1999 Constitution and approval by at least two-thirds of the 36 state Houses of Assembly before it becomes law.
