Makinde seeks 6-year single term for elected officials, says re-election campaign causes distractions

Seyi Makinde, governor of Oyo, has recommended a single term of five or six years for elected public officials.

Makinde spoke on Friday when Muslim faithful visited him at his Ibadan residence shortly after the Eid-el-Kabir prayers.

The delegation, which was led by Bayo Lawal, the deputy governor, comprised traditional and political leaders.

Speaking during the visit, Makinde said based on his experience, elected officials are only serious with governance for five years out of the eight years in office.

The Oyo governor, who has been in office for six years, said there are always distractions of re-election campaigns, adding that a single term will remove such distractions.

“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,” he said.

“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 on 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 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 facts based on 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.”

Based on the provisions of the 1999 constitution (as amended), president and governors are entitled to a double term of four years.

In October 2024, former Vice-President Atiku Abubakar asked the national assembly to amend the constitution and create a single six-year single tenure for anyone who becomes president of Nigeria.

The former vice-president had said the presidency should be rotational among the six geo-political zones of the country.

In November 2024, the house of representatives rejected a bill seeking a six-year single term for Nigeria’s president.