The single term presidency of six years proposed by former Vice President, Atiku Abubakar has sparked debate among Nigerians.
Atiku, a 2023 Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, presidential candidate, had called for a single term of six years presidency for Nigeria.
He proposed that Section 135(2) should be amended to read: “Subject to the provisions of the subsection (1), the President shall vacate his office at the expiration of a period of six years commencing from the date of swearing-in.”
In response to the call of the National Assembly for inputs in its ongoing move to review the 1999 Constitution as amended, Atiku said the office of the president should rotate among the six geopolitical zones of the Federation.
Atiku’s proposal was addressed to the Deputy President of the Senate and Chairman, Senate Committee on Constitution Review, Senator Barau Jibrin.
Six years single term presidency panacea for distraction – Arewa youths
Backing Atiku’s call, the National President of Arewa Youths Consultative Forum, AYCF, Yerima Shettima said the proposal would eliminate distractions among the political office holders who always look towards a second term after the first year in office.
Speaking with DAILY POST, Shettima said: “I will agree with the single term rotational presidency because with the way politicians are becoming desperate by the day, I think it would reduce anxiety, desperation, and tension.
“Once somebody’s term is short, he would definitely clear up for another person rather than this issue of distraction where they believe in coming back for a second term.
“If you notice, their mandate is for four years but the moment they get the first year, rather than remain focused to provide governance in the second year, they start positioning themselves for a second term.
“So, they only have one year out of the four to work and that’s why we often have the challenges of the government coming out without instituting any concrete infrastructure or any meaningful impact as regards governance or the mandate.
“So, I think it’s a sign of distraction; if we can amend the constitution to reduce the whole governance to six years and one term for anyone in the executive office.
“It will go a long way and we can feel the first four years; even if he wants to bring in somebody, he will concentrate for the first four years and he can use the remaining two years to seek support for whoever he wants to succeed him.”
Shettima, however, expressed fear that the National Assembly might not allow Atiku’s proposal to scale through.
He explained that the current crop of National Assembly members would only be interested in doing the bidding of the Executive regarding the proposal.
Shettima added: “The National Assembly that I see today, they will do what’s in the interest of the executive and if the executive is not interested after consultation, they will do otherwise.
“The National Assembly I see today can’t do anything other than being Rubber-stamp, in fact they are Rubber-stamp.
“Once the executive wants it that way, it will work but if they don’t want it, you don’t need to ask the NASS because the NASS leadership I see today can’t do otherwise.”
Atiku’s proposal worth considering – Afenifere
On his part, the National Publicity Secretary of the pan-Yoruba organisation, Afenifere, Comrade Jare Ajayi, said Atiku’s proposal is worth considering.
Ajayi told DAILY POST: “There are four main issues in the propositions put forward by former Vice President Atiku Abubakar.
“The first is to have a single term of six years for the President and Governors. The second is for these Executive Offices to rotate between the geo-political zones.
“The third issue is on the academic qualification for the President while the fourth point is the need to empower political parties to have more leverage on candidates.
“In my view, none of the issues should be dismissed with a wave of hand”.
He submitted that although having an opportunity for a second term is part of the electoral process in a democracy, “our experience in Nigeria in this respect has not been very pleasing, – generally speaking, especially at the state level”.
On the second issue, Ajayi stated that there is nothing wrong in having major elective offices in the land rotating among the geo-political zones.
“It engenders a sense of belonging and encourages more participation,” he said.
He also agreed with Atiku’s stance to have political parties be in a position to exercise more control on members wanting to contest elections on their respective platforms.
He added: “It could be observed that part of the misdemeanour among politicians in Nigeria would have been prevented or minimised were there to be party discipline as was the case in the First and Second Republics.
“So, giving political parties more power in this respect should be beneficial to our body politics”.
Second tenure Nigeria’s biggest problem – APC chieftain, Nabena backs Atiku
A former Deputy National Publicity Secretary of the All Progressives Congress, APC, Yekini Nabena backed Atiku.
Nabena said: “One single term is good because our biggest problem in this country is second tenure.
“From your first tenure, anything you are doing is because you want to come back for your second tenure and once you come back nothing is done.
“You now tell people that you are trying to recover the money spent for your first tenure as if the money is your personal money.
“Some of these people that have been in government, especially the governors, have never worked before, then they would tell you that somebody in government said ‘I made you this, I did this for you,’ is it your personal money?”
Describing the current National Assembly as contractors, Nabena also agreed that the current legislature would only allow Atiku’s proposition to pass through constitutional amendment if it’s vetted by the Executive.
He added: “A NASS that runs four budgets at the same time and a country that has several currencies running at the same time, that tells you that any law can pass, so far as their interest is there.
“Now is worse because by next year we should be talking about elections where they will be going for primaries, so anything that calls for money goes because they need to spend money for election.
“As far as I’m concerned, these NASS members are all contractors, if the proposal is in the interest of the Executive it would go through.”