Former First Lady of Ondo State and public affairs commentator, Dr. Betty Anyanwu-Akeredolu, PhD, has thrown her weight behind the call for a single-term presidency in Nigeria, warning that the country’s democratic governance is being undermined by continuous electioneering and political positioning.
Dr. Anyanwu-Akeredolu expressed her position while reacting to a recent policy intervention by former Minister of Aviation and Chancellor of the Athena Centre for Policy and Leadership, Osita Chidoka, who advocated a constitutionally entrenched single-term presidency as a pathway to more focused and effective governance.
According to her, the debate around a single-term presidency is neither novel nor theoretical, stressing that Nigeria’s lived democratic experience has consistently shown that preparations for re-election often push governance into what she described as “a recession.”
“Long before the midpoint of an administration, attention shifts from delivery to survival. As we are witnessing now, despite elections being scheduled for 2027, the political atmosphere has been overheated since 2025. Energy that should be directed toward development, service delivery, and welfare is instead being expended on positioning, alliances, and electoral calculations.” She noted
She warned that if historical patterns persist, 2026 risks becoming a lost year, as governance increasingly takes a back seat to political ambition.
Dr. Anyanwu-Akeredolu aligned with Chidoka’s observation that while political actors focus on future elections, the everyday realities of citizens remain constant.
“Life does not pause for elections,” she said. “Children will continue to sit for WAEC and JAMB. Citizens will seek healthcare. Insecurity will either worsen or improve. Households will struggle or breathe based on economic realities. The cost of permanent electioneering is borne by the Nigerian people.”
Advocating for a broader reform agenda, she argued that the single-term principle should not be limited to the presidency alone but extended across all tiers of government, as a means of restoring discipline, accountability, and institutional focus.
“A single-term framework compels leaders to prioritise legacy over longevity, delivery over popularity, and institutions over personal political futures,” she stated.
However, Dr. Anyanwu-Akeredolu cautioned that the proposal must move beyond advocacy to concrete design, raising critical questions about implementation.
She called for a national conversation on the appropriate duration of a single term, whether four, five, or six years, the timing of such a reform, and how to manage the transition without destabilising the political system.
“These are serious questions that require national dialogue, constitutional clarity, and bipartisan honesty,” she said.
She concluded by stressing that Nigeria can no longer afford to sacrifice governance at the altar of re-election politics, describing the need to rethink political timelines as urgent rather than optional.
“If we are serious about development, trust-building, and institutional performance,” she said, “then the courage to rethink our political timelines is no longer optional—it is urgent.”
Dr. Anyanwu-Akeredolu is the wife of the late former Governor of Ondo State, Arakunrin Oluwarotimi Akeredolu, SAN, and remains an active voice in national discourse on governance, democracy, and institutional reform.
