Senate Leader, Opeyemi Bamidele, has revealed plans to sponsor a bill seeking a single six-year tenure for presidents and governors, arguing that the move would enable elected leaders to focus on governance rather than re-election campaigns.
Bamidele disclosed the proposal on Tuesday, June 9, 2026, during an interview with journalists in his office, saying the legislation would be among the first bills he intends to introduce in the next Senate after the 2027 general elections.
Nigeria currently operates a two-term system that allows presidents and governors to serve a maximum of two four-year terms. However, the Senate Leader argued that the arrangement often forces elected officials to begin strategising for re-election barely halfway into their first term, distracting them from governance.
“One of the first set of bills that I look forward to moving, by God’s grace, when we come back for the 11th Senate, God willing, is a bill that will make it possible for anyone who wants to be president of this country, or governor in any part of this country, to serve only one term of six years,” he said.
According to him, a single six-year tenure would eliminate the pressure and distractions associated with seeking a second term.
“So that you don’t have to waste almost one and a half years of your first term thinking, struggling and looking forward to how you will be re-elected.
“If you know you are there for six years and only one tenure, you put in your best from day one. You know this is the only chance you have,” Bamidele said.
The lawmaker acknowledged that the proposal may not enjoy universal support but insisted that lawmakers must continue to pursue reforms aimed at improving governance.
“That’s my opinion. It doesn’t mean everybody will agree with me. But it also does not mean that I am prevented from doing that because that has not been the law,” he said.
Bamidele further noted that laws are not static and should evolve to reflect changing national realities.
“The essence of law, the essence of parliament, is that laws are like human beings; they grow,” he added.
The proposal is expected to reignite a long-standing constitutional debate over the tenure of elected executives in Nigeria.
Calls for a single tenure have surfaced repeatedly since the country’s return to democratic rule in 1999, with supporters arguing that it would reduce the distractions of re-election campaigns and encourage long-term policy implementation.
In recent constitutional review proposals submitted to the National Assembly, former Vice President and African Democratic Congress presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar, also advocated a six-year single term for presidents and governors, alongside a constitutional provision for the rotation of the presidency among Nigeria’s six geopolitical zones.
He stated that the constitutional amendment would be a top priority if elected.
Critics of the proposal, however, argue that the current two-term system allows voters to either reward performing leaders with a second mandate or remove underperforming ones through the ballot box.
If introduced and passed by the National Assembly, the bill would require extensive amendments to the 1999 Constitution and approval by at least two-thirds of the state Houses of Assembly before it can become law.
