A proposed bill to amend the Nigerian Constitution and introduce a single six-year term for the offices of the president and state governors has failed in the House of Representatives.

Sponsored by Honourable Ikenga Ugochinyere, the bill aimed to institutionalize the division of Nigeria into six geopolitical zones and provide for the rotation of key political offices, including the presidency, governorships, and local government chairmanships, among these zones.

Additionally, the bill sought to align all elections in the country to take place on a single day.

During its second reading, the bill was overwhelmingly rejected by lawmakers, marking another unsuccessful attempt to legislate a six-year single term for the president and governors.

A similar bill sponsored in 2019 by John Dyegh from Benue State also failed to pass the second reading.

Dyegh’s proposal extended the six-year term to members of the National Assembly and State Houses of Assembly, arguing that a longer tenure would enhance legislative experience.

He also highlighted the high costs, violence, and irregularities often associated with re-election campaigns, advocating a single term as a solution.

Notably, former Vice President Atiku Abubakar had also supported amending the 1999 Constitution and the Electoral Act 2022 to include a six-year single term presidency, rotated among the six geopolitical zones.

He further emphasized that the law should mandate electronic voting and result collation, as well as require the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to verify the credentials of candidates, among other reforms.

In June this year, the Governor of Anambra State, Prof. Chukwuma Soludo, also expressed his support for the introduction of a single term for elected officials.

“Sometimes, these conversations about single term might begin to make some sense so that you fix it, whether you say four years or five years, six years, seven years, single term,” Soludo said.

“So, you are not thinking about the next election once you finish getting into this. I face that all day in my state. You want to get into this (project), they say, ‘No, wait, you know you have an election’. And I say, ‘No, let’s get it, if we get there, we get there and if we lose, we lose.”