Africa
A Pointless Debate About Single Tenure -By Ike Willie-Nwobu
Nigeria’s last general elections came in 2023. The next general elections come up in 2027, but already the obsession over the second term has turned into confusion for many elected office holders. Having failed to justify the term already spent in power, many of them have actively suspended governance and are instead fully focused on securing a second term in office.
Debate has recently erupted over the insistence of Peter Obi that if he is elected as president of the country in 2027, he will serve only a single term. Since he reiterated a position he has stringently maintained in his signature candor and consistency, he has come under attacks from key players in the Nigerian political and media scene. Many of his attackers have insisted that Peter Obi was giving in to dissembling, naivety, or both.
Since he began throwing his hat into the ring to become the president of Nigeria, Peter Obi has had a lot to say, just like the everyday politician of Nigerian extraction. Yet, what stands Peter Obi out from the everyday politician whose loquacity is often a ladder to political office, is that he always manages to sound convincing. This is even before he brings in his incredible track record as Anambra Governor.
Since he started maintaining a constant stream of thoughts and treatises on the Nigerian situation, Peter Obi has become a target for all manner of vicious attacks from every corner. But instead of backing down, the former Anambra State Governor has instead doubled down. He always speaks so simply but powerfully about Nigeria’s myriad problems.
Indeed, it is a measure of his characteristic consistency that Obi has continued to weigh in on the Nigerian conundrum. The hullabaloo about his proposal to do only one term as president if elected into office has detonated like a bomb in a country where people kill or are killed for power.
But if there is one Nigerian politician that can get into office and do exactly what he says he will do, it is Peter Obi.
For him, politics is about service, not transactions. He is such a breath of fresh air in a country where power is relished and never relinquished without a fight.
Nigerians need to change their approach to how they acquire and use political power. There is no magic about this. At the heart of this truth is a profound lesson that can liberate Nigeria. Realizing that power in Nigeria belongs to Nigerians and should be used in service of the people makes political office less attractive and convenient but definitely more useful and beneficial.
Nigeria’s last general elections came in 2023. The next general elections come up in 2027, but already the obsession over the second term has turned into confusion for many elected office holders. Having failed to justify the term already spent in power, many of them have actively suspended governance and are instead fully focused on securing a second term in office.
One of the greatest tragedies of modern-day Nigeria is the misplacement of priorities on a national level. The question should not even be about time spent in office but tangible results.
The knives should never be brought out for a man who proposes to do only a single term in office.
It is a pointless debate because four years is enough time for anyone who wants to serve Nigerians to make an impact.
Nigerians should be wary of pointless debates over time in office instigated by clueless public office holders who seek every possible distraction from their incompetence and ineptitude.
Ike Willie-Nwobu,
Ikewilly9@gmail.com
