“It Will Expose Us”: PDP Chieftain Explain Why 6-year Single Term Will Not Work

The bill at the national assembly seeking a six-year single term for the President and governors of Nigeria has been predicted to fail under President Bola Tinubu’s watch.

A Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) member, Rilwan Olanrewaju, made the prediction in an exclusive interview with Legit,ng, adding that the President’s camp rejected the bill when former President Goodluck Jonathan introduced it.

The bill, which was introduced by 35 members of the House of Representatives on Monday, June 10, also proposed a rotational presidency within the country’s six geopolitical regions.

Reacting to the bill, Olanrewaju maintained that it would allow the current leaders to loot the country, knowing they had no second chance to become President.

He said:

“When former President Goodluck Jonathan suggested a six-year single term, the current set of today’s power holders rejected it. They created a lot of confusion and blackmailed the then-president for trying to destroy our democracy.

“As much as the suggestion was great back then, the sudden decline as a nation is the reason why the six-year single term won’t work. Let’s imagine the current president and his loyalists, who in one year in office turned the country upside down, now have to go six years with no option of re-contesting; the level of disaster, looting and corruption will be unprecedented. It will expose us to calling Nigeria a failed state and total collapse.

“The six-year single term is ideal, but not now that we lack direction as a country and not when we lack a proper set of people at the centre stage. We need to mature and lay progressive foundations before discussing a six-year single term.”