Olu Allen
Must President Bola Ahmed Tinubu serve for eight years? Who decreed that Nigerian presidents are entitled to two terms regardless of performance?
Let’s be clear: The Constitution allows up to two terms, not a guaranteed reward. A second term is a privilege earned through demonstrable results and renewed public trust.
If Tinubu’s administration fails to deliver in four years, why renew his mandate? Leadership isn’t a civil service promotion.
Four years isn’t a trial phase; it’s a full presidential term wielding constitutional power, ₦28 trillion annual budgets, and control of the nation’s entire security apparatus.
Yet after two years, inflation rages at 36%, the naira has collapsed to ₦1,600/$, and over 600,000 Nigerians have been killed by terrorists and bandits.
Consider history: Abraham Lincoln preserved America’s union in one term. Nelson Mandela stabilized post-apartheid South Africa in five years and stepped down voluntarily. Greatness isn’t measured by tenure length, but by tangible impact.
If Tinubu is the “strategist” his supporters claim, let him prove it by 2027, not demand eight years while citizens stand in 12-hour fuel lines to buy petrol at ₦1,000/litre.
The Constitution’s renewable term exists precisely for performance review. When a first term sees national debt explode by 150% to ₦144 trillion and 84% of citizens report worsening hardship, endorsing failure isn’t patriotism, it’s national sabotage.
This isn’t an abstract debate. Northern elders recently decried the premature endorsements for Tinubu, calling them a “commodification of suffering.” Atiku and Obi’s coalition is gaining traction.
Even within APC circles, quiet discontent grows as re-election talk seems tone-deaf to the 78% of Nigerians who rate this administration poorly.
Nigeria isn’t a personal fiefdom. It’s over 200 million lives hanging in the balance. If four years can’t fulfill your promises, perhaps those promises were never realistic, or worse, deceptive.
Mandela’s single term gifted South Africa stability. Lincoln’s four years saved a nation. Nigeria, bleeding from inflation, terror, and a vanishing middle class, doesn’t need ritualistic tenure. It needs rescue.
So what’s wrong if BAT serves only one term? Nothing. In fact, it may be the boldest act of statesmanship he could offer Nigeria.
Allen is a writer and educator based in Kano. He writes on public affairs and advocates for good governance.
