TheCable

Ibadan-based legal icon, Aare Afe Babalola, has urged the president-elect, Muhammadu Buhari to consider an amendment of the 1999 constitution once he assumes office on May 29.

In his letter to Buhari dated April 1, 2015, Babalola arguued that the current four-year term does not give the president enough time to work.

“I suggest that there is urgent need to restructure the country’s constitution and reform it to ensure that Nigeria emerges as a nation united, where a leader will emerge through votes cast during election – not based on religious or ethnic affiliations,” he said.

“And this brings me to the age-long advocacy of a single six-year term for the country’s president, which would have allowed him to work harder and achieve more, instead of the present four-year term, which allows him only two years of serious work, as he will spend the first year to settle down and use the last of the four years to campaign for his second term.”

He urged Buhari not to abandon, but to build on the foundation that the present administration has laid down.

Babalola, a senior advocate of Nigeria, also wrote a letter to President Goodluck Jonathan, describing him as “the hero of this presidential election”.

He urged Jonathan to reflect on the factors responsible for his loss, an exercise he said would be useful in his future endeavours.

He noted that Jonathan was the only other leader to concede defeat and congratulate the winner after an election apart from Ibrahim Kwankwanso and Kayode Fayemi of Kano and Ekiti state respectively.