The flagbearer of the Labour Party (LP), Peter Obi, in the February 2023 elections, has put forward a proposal for a five-year presidential tenure for each of the six geopolitical zones in Nigeria.
Obi made this statement at a news conference in Abuja two weeks after the Supreme Court upheld President Bola Tinubu’s All Progressives Congress (APC) electoral victory on February 25, 2023.
His idea follows a previous press conference by Atiku, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) candidate in the same race, who proposed a constitutional reform to establish a six-year single term for the President.
Obi, on the other hand, was opposed to the six-year tenure plan, favouring a five-year term with a 30-year rotation system.
He believes that such an amendment to the constitution would result in a functional and productive framework for Nigeria, including the introduction of a single tenure system.
“I thank (former) Vice President Atiku Abubakar for his position and his commitment to ensuring that things work better going forward in Nigeria but I disagree slightly,” he said.
“I will go for a five-year tenure, which will go for 30 years rotational — for a five-year tenure.”
The 62-year-old further proposed the implementation of a quasi-system that would enable leaders in office to simultaneously participate in the legislature.
In addition, he said a mechanism for leaders to be answerable to the public through regular question-and-answer sessions should be established.
“And I will still campaign for one thing, if we cannot go back to the issue of parliamentary democracy, we must have a quasi-system that will allow our elected leaders, whether prime minister or president, to be able to be part of the legislature, especially to answer question,” he said.
“Maybe a presidential question or prime minister question, instead of hiring surrogates. We want to hear from the people we elected now and that is critical. We cannot continue with this way where we are now, where people have outsourced leadership.”