The House of Representatives has rejected a bill that seeks to create a single term of six years for the office of president and state governors
Ikenga Ugochinyere (Imo, PDP), who sponsored the bill, wants to recognize the division of Nigeria into the six geopolitical zones rotation of the office of president, state governor and chairmen of local government councils among the Inherent regions and zones.
The bill wants to make it possible for all elections in the country to be held same day.
The bill scheduled for second reading was rejected by the majority of the lawmakers who voted against it.
It would be recalled that in 2019, John Dyegh from Benue State brought the bill which also did not make it to the second reading.
Dyegh’s bill had also sought a six-year term for lawmakers of the National Assembly and States Houses of Assembly where he also argued that the bill was necessary for members of the National Assembly to gain more experience in six years instead of four.
He said the second term for the President and governors cost three times more than the first election and is characterised by violence, adding that a single term of five years will stop the irregularities associated with re-election.
Former Vice President Atiku Abubakar had also advocated an amendment of the 1999 Constitution and the Electoral Act 2022 to provide for a six-year single term for a President for each of the six geopolitical zone
He said the law must mandate electronic voting and collation of results, and compel the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to verify the credentials of candidates, amongst others.
Governor Chukwuma Soludo of Anambra State, also in June this years, backed the calls for a single term for elected politicians.
“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,” Soludo said.
“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.”
