The presidential candidate of the Social Democratic Party, Prince Adewole Adebayo, has dismissed proposals for a single six-year tenure for presidents and governors, describing the debate as a distraction from Nigeria’s more urgent governance and electoral challenges.
Adebayo made the remarks during an interview on ARISE NEWS 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 presidents and governors to focus more on governance instead of re-election campaigns. However, Adebayo insisted that Nigeria’s real problem lies in the credibility of its electoral process rather than the number of years leaders spend in office.
“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.
The SDP candidate argued that Nigeria should prioritise building a political system where voters genuinely determine election outcomes without manipulation or irregularities.
“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.
He stressed that electoral reform should take precedence over constitutional debates surrounding tenure length, adding that credible elections remain the foundation of democracy.
“So, 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. So, the issue of how long you stay in power and all of that is irrelevant; it’s what you do when you get there,” he added.
Adebayo maintained that the current constitutional arrangement of a four-year tenure with the possibility of re-election is sufficient if elections are transparent and credible.
“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 the government are going there only by winning a free, fair, and credible election,” he said.
Commenting on reports of parallel presidential candidates within the SDP, Adebayo downplayed concerns, describing such disputes as common in party politics and urging the Independent National Electoral Commission to follow due process.
He also called for issue-based politics, urging political parties to compete through ideas, policies and programmes rather than personal attacks or identity-based campaigns.
“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,” Adebayo said.