On Wednesday, the House of Representatives passed the first reading of a bill proposing amendments to the 1999 Constitution to introduce a single six-year term for the offices of the President, state governors, and Local Government Areas chairmen.
Sponsored by Ikenga Ugochinyere, representing Ideato North/Ideato South Federal Constituency, Imo State, along with 50 other lawmakers, the bill aims to reduce election costs by extending the tenure of these offices.
The proposed amendments target Sections 7, 135, 137, 180, and 182 (1) of the 1999 Constitution. Specifically:
Clause 2 seeks to amend Section 7 of the Principal Act by inserting a new subsection (5) immediately after the extant subsection 4 and before the extant subsection 5 as follows, “(5) A holder of the office of a Local Government Chairman shall vacate his office at expiration of a period of six years commencing from the date such holder was elected into office.”
Clause 3 of the bill seeks to amend Section 135 subsections (2), (2A) and (3) of the Principal Act by replacing the word “four” with “six” to read:
“(2) Subject to the provisions of subsection (1) of this section, the President shall vacate his office at the expiration of a period of six (6) years single tenure commencing from the date, when – (a) in the case of a person first elected as President under this Constitution, he took the Oath of Allegiance and the oath of office; and
(b) in any other case, the person last elected to that office under this Constitution took the oath of allegiance and oath of office or would, but for his death, have taken such oaths.
“(2A) in the determination of the six-year term, where a re-run election has taken place and the person earlier sworn wins the re-run election, the time spent in the office before the date the election was annulled shall be taken into account.
“(3) If the Federation is at war in which the territory of Nigeria is physically involved and the President considers that it is not practicable to hold elections, the National Assembly may by resolution extend the period of six years mentioned in subsection (2) of this section from time to time; but no such extension shall exceed six months at any one time.”
Clause 4 of the bill seeks to amend Section 137 of the Principal Act by deleting paragraph (b) and renumbering appropriately.
Clause 5 of the proposed legislation seeks to amend Section 180 of the Principal Act by deleting the extant subsections 2 and 3 and replacing it with new subsections 2 and 3.
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