By Kolawole Ojebisi
The House of Representatives has rejected a bill seeking a six-year single term for Nigeria’s president and governors.
The bill, slated for a second reading, was rejected during Thursday’s plenary session.
The bill, which was sponsored by Ikeagwuonu Ugochinyere from Imo state and 33 other lawmakers, also proposed a six-year term for governors and rotation of executive powers among the six geopolitical zones to “ensure equal representation and reduce the desperation and tempo of agitation for the creation of states”.
The lawmakers also sought to amend section 3 of the constitution to provide for the recognition of the division of Nigeria into six geopolitical zones.
The lawmakers suggested holding the presidential, governorship, national assembly, state houses of assembly, and local government elections on the same day.
They also recommended creating the office of two vice-presidents from the southern and northern parts of the country.
The house swiftly and unanimously rejected the bill when Tajudeen Abbas, speaker of the house, called for a voice vote following Ugochinyere’s motion for the bill to be read a second time.
The “ayes” were drowned out by the “nays” with the speaker left with no other option but to rule in the favour of the majority.
There have been calls for a single term of six years for president over the years.
Prominent among eminent Nigerians who have been in the forefront of the campaign for the tinkering of the Constitution to accommodate this idea is the former governor of Abia State, Orji Uzor Kalu.
Kalu is of the opinion that a single six-year tenure for president and governors will prevent politicians in the executive arm of government from influencing election results among other advantages.
The former governor has maintained several times that his stance on.the issue was the reason former president Olusegun Obasanjo hated him during his reign.
Currently, the 1999 constitution stipulates that a candidate can be elected for a four-year term and can be re-elected for another term, after which he or she can no longer contest for office.
