The presidential candidate of the Social Democratic Party, Adewole Adebayo, has rejected proposals for a single six-year tenure for presidents and governors, describing the debate as a distraction from Nigeria’s more pressing challenges.
Adebayo stated this during an interview on Arise News on Wednesday while reacting to plans by Senate Leader, Opeyemi Bamidele, to sponsor a bill seeking a single six-year term for elected executives.
Supporters of the proposal argue that a single tenure would allow elected officials to focus on governance without the pressure of seeking re-election.
However, Adebayo insisted that the country’s primary concern should be ensuring credible elections rather than altering the tenure of political office holders.
“It’s a distraction. These are all idle talks. A six-year term, a four-year term—that’s not the problem. The problem is that you have to have a system that works,” he said.
According to him, Nigeria must prioritise building an electoral system that reflects the genuine choices of voters.
“You have to have a political system where the voter decides the winner, where nobody watches INEC as if you are watching a secret society, and where political parties raise ideas and raise new people,” Adebayo stated.
The SDP flagbearer argued that electoral reforms should take precedence over constitutional debates on tenure length.
“My focus, as we are heading towards the future, is that we must, once and for all, kill the demon of rigged elections. We must, once and for all, allow the voter to vote,” he said.
“The issue of how long you stay in power and all of that is irrelevant; it’s what you do when you get there.”
Adebayo maintained that the current constitutional provision of a four-year term remains adequate if elections are conducted freely and fairly.
“I think the present system of four years—and if you are good enough, you go for another four years—is good enough if the people who are actually going to government are going there only by winning a free, fair and credible election. We should focus on that now,” he added.
Speaking on reports of multiple presidential candidates emerging within the SDP, Adebayo dismissed concerns over the development and urged the Independent National Electoral Commission to follow the law in resolving such issues.
“We are not bothered by that; it’s the normal staple. So, I think the burden is on INEC to try not to waste its time on that and to follow the law,” he said.
The SDP candidate also called for issue-based politics, urging political parties to compete through policies, programmes and ideas rather than personal attacks.
“What we can have is a set of political parties competing on a set of ideas, and the media moderating for all of us so that we can have equal hearing. Then Nigerians can now decide to lie on their bed the way they want to lie on it when the time comes,” Adebayo said.
He stressed that strengthening democratic institutions and restoring confidence in the electoral process remain more important than discussions about extending or shortening political tenures.