By Olayinka Owolabi
Peter Obi, the 2023 presidential candidate of the Labour Party, has advocated a single term of five years for the office of the President of Nigeria, scrapping the current two-term system.
He said this was the practice in South Korea, where the president cannot seek re-election after a single term of five years in office.
Speaking in Bauchi on Friday during a visit to Governor Bala Mohammed, Obi said the change would make the occupier know that they have a job to do within the limited time available.
“It should be five years straight. Come in, do the job, and go. No second term,”
“What people do now is to be president for one year and use the rest of the year thinking about the next tenure. Let’s stop it, let’s face the real job,” he said.
In response, Governor Mohammed urged Obi to return to the Peoples Democratic Party, saying, “That is where you belong… we must put ego aside for Nigeria’s sake.”
Obi while in Bauchi, also visited students of Abubakar Tafawa Balewa University (ATBU), where he spoke on his time as Governor Anambra state, saying he governed the state for eight years without misappropriating public funds.
“I served as governor of a state for eight years and I challenge everybody to go and show me where one kobo of Anambra state that I’m not entitled to was linked to me,” he said.
According to him, tackling corruption in Nigeria is not as complicated as widely believed.
“If you, your wife and children are not stealing, you have reduced corruption by 60 percent.”
“If I have the opportunity to serve as Nigeria’s president in 2027, I will do so for only four years. It can be less but it will never be more. I will not stay a day longer than four years,” he added.
