The House of Representatives on Wednesday passed through the first reading a bill seeking to amend the 1999 Constitution to provide for a single term of six years for the offices of the President, state governors and Local Government Areas chairmen.
The private member bill was sponsored by the member representing Ideato North/Ideato South Federal Constituency, Imo State, Ikenga Ugochinyere and 50 other lawmakers.
The sponsors of the bill argue that a single term of six years will help to reduce the spending on the general elections conducted every four years.
The proposed bill seeks to alter Sections 7, 135, 137, 180 and 182 (1) of the 1999 Constitution (as amended).
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 the 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
