Why Nigeria Needs To Adopt Single Term For Political Leaders

The governor of Oyo State; Engr. Seyi Makinde has made a case for a single term for political leaders in Nigeria, saying that the nation needs to take a cue from the single-term leadership of the Pentecostal Fellowship of Nigeria.

The governor made this assertion while reacting to PFN’s National President, Bishop Wale Oke’s claim that there is no second term in the leadership of PFN.

The bishop had said this while delivering his welcome address during the opening ceremony of this year’s National Executive Retreat of the PFN held in Ibadan.

Makinde said that Nigeria needs to learn from the single-term arrangement, saying that he is a supporter of a single term for political leaders in the country.

According to him, four years may not be enough to achieve one’s aims but it is enough to make an impact.

“I am hearing for the first time that there is no second term in the PFN. Maybe, we need to learn one or two things from that arrangement for our nation. I am a supporter of a single-term structure. As a matter of fact, I did not want any second term and I told the fathers of faith that four years is not enough to do everything that you want to do but it is long enough to make your own impact and go your own way.

“If we get an opportunity to discuss this, I think five or six years in a single term, maybe five years will really be enough for most of us to do whatever it is that we are supposed to do,” he said.

Speaking on the emergence of a Muslim president and vice president, which did not go down well with some people in Christendom, he said that it is ”Impossible to continue to do the same thing, that is; waiting every four years when an election comes, then expect a different result.

“The fathers of faith came to me and said that they don’t want a Muslim-Muslim ticket. We have an issue with it, I said well, tell me, where is the structure for your preference? I asked them. If you can show me the structure, then you have me. But also, let’s take a step back because the party I belonged to chose a Muslim and a colleague of mine then, the governor of Delta State as a running mate.

“I said okay, this is very similar to where we were coming from in the past eight years. It is even slightly lower because previously, it was a Muslim and a pastor of the Redeemed Christian Church of God, now we moved to a Muslim and a Christian who is not a pastor.