Lawmakers have kicked against the bill seeking 6 years tenure for President, Governors and members of the house of Assembly.
Earlier, The Herald reported John Dyegh of the All Progressives Congress (APC) representing Gboko/Tarka Federal constituency of Benue state, sponsored a bill to elongate the term of President and Governors from 4 years to 6 years.
However, this sparked debate on the floor of the house as reps were divided over the bill.
Some reps such as Sergius Ogun from Edo state argued the 6 years tenure would save the government funds from conducting re-elections for President, Governors and other political officeholders.
“This bill intends to also save the money being spent in elections for the second term. It will save this country and our democracy,” argued Ogun
Another Rep Henry Archibong (Akwa Ibom) and Yusuf Gagdi countered saying the focus should be on how to reduce the cost of running elections instead of elongating tenures
Archibong said “How can we make electoral processes and elections credible and less expensive,” he asked. “This is the issue we ought to address and not the number of terms.”
Gagdi said “Our problem is our inability to respect our rules. Our democracy does not need six-year single term for the executive,”
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“What it needs it to maintain what is in place for the executive and national assembly. What we need is to improve our elections and ensure we have a system that will not fail Nigerians.
“It is not the time to say we will amend the tenure of the executive and the national assembly members.”