South-East Leaders Scrutinise Peter Obi’s Controversial Single-Term Presidency Proposal

As the political atmosphere heats up ahead of the 2027 presidential election, stakeholders across the South-East region are intensely scrutinising the single-term presidency proposal put forward by the Labour Party (LP) presidential candidate in 2023, Mr. Peter Obi. The debate is sharply divided between those who believe a focused, five-year term could swiftly turn the nation’s fortunes around and those who argue that the time frame is fundamentally inadequate to repair decades of systemic decay.

Obi initially sparked controversy within the political landscape during a courtesy visit to Governor Bala Mohammed of Bauchi State in August 2025. Drawing inspiration from the governance model in South Korea, the former Anambra State Governor proposed a radical constitutional shift away from the current two-term, eight-year presidency.

“I’ve said it and I want to say it again in this Government House that if I have the opportunity, we should stop having a second tenure for president,” Obi had declared. “It should be five years straight, so that people can come in knowingly they have a job to do. What people do now is to be president for one year and use the rest of the year thinking about their next tenure. We must stop it, let’s face the real job, do your own and go.”

The proposal has since opened a barrage of opinions across the South-East and the entire Nigerian political spectrum. The resulting debate is split along ideological and political lines, examining the feasibility of such a radical constitutional shift against current political realities.

Dismissing Obi’s remark as a mere political tactic, the National Chairman of the Action Alliance (AA), Kenneth Udeze, warned against accepting the proposal without critical scrutiny. Udeze argued that the one-term advocacy portrays Obi as a politician desperately trying to woo support across both the Northern and Southern divides in his dire need to become president.

“My understanding of what Peter Obi was making reference to on the one term presidency is more or less a personal opinion for him,” Udeze told a correspondent. “Peter Obi’s position, I would rather see it as a political position of somebody who is in dire need to serve the country from the perspective of being a president. It’s an indirect way of wooing other people, either from the North or South to give him backing on the ground and understanding that this man’s interest is just for a four-year term.” He cautioned that such pronouncements are often abandoned by politicians once in office, stating: “Don’t forget in this country, people will always come to tell you things… before you know it, politicians will say the people don’t want me to go, they want me to contest for a second term, so even when those pronouncements are made its not what one swallows hook line and sinker.” Udeze concluded that he remains in support of the constitutional provision that allows for a second term.

The AA National Chairman further maintained that a four-year or even five-year period is simply insufficient to restore Nigeria’s stability and reverse the widespread corruption and insecurity plaguing the nation. He disclosed that issues like crisis management, insecurity, and other distractions would always surface during an administration, making governance difficult during the first term.

“If he (Peter Obi) later said five years, it has to pass through constitutional amendment… I don’t see a leader in Nigeria today that can put this nation in its right standing in four years time,” Udeze asserted. He stressed that a leader would spend the early years coordinating amidst distractions and a country “bastardized by series of inept corruption.” Udeze argued that it may take three years alone to establish a firm footing on security before any administration could tackle other major policies, concluding: “So somebody that wants to put things in order, if you start talking about the issue of security in the country, it may take you three years to get it done before you can now take up another policy to work on, except the person just has only one point agenda that’s the only way he can do it in one term.”

In contrast, the 2023 Imo East Senatorial candidate for the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA), Chyma Anthony, viewed Obi’s one-term presidency proposal as a welcomed idea. He argued that a committed leader can achieve significant change within that time frame. “I don’t want to talk about the individual’s desperation, but one term presidency could come for a lot of reasons, somebody wants to use certain time to correct certain things. Four years is enough for somebody to be in leadership and make changes, I don’t see anything wrong in that, and for the Southeast, I don’t even care where the president comes from,” Anthony stated.

The constitutional lawyer-cum-politician maintained that the current national mood transcends regional politics, with all Nigerians primarily seeking a leader who can deliver change regardless of origin. He recounted how Obi’s massive grassroots appeal impacted the 2023 elections even outside the Labour Party, demonstrating the former governor’s capacity to mobilise public sentiment.

“I will tell you that yes, a child that you give birth to today, in the next four years that child is working, has that child not made progress? So if we look at the institutions, assuming the police work, the state works, what can we not achieve in four years? Are we going to wait for eight years?” Anthony reasoned, adding that a successful president should be able to perform within four years and provide improvement to the country. He also touched on economic policy, referencing the need for currency denomination akin to global best practices to help the nation’s economy.

On the chances of Mr. Obi defeating President Bola Tinubu in the 2027 polls, Anthony concluded that “Nothing is impossible,” pointing to Obi’s successful efforts in Lagos State in 2023. He stressed that both Northern and Southern electorates are suffering and are now simply looking for a leader who can solve the nation’s pervasive problems, from insecurity and banditry to unregulated food and drug systems. “All Nigerians want today is who will deliver them, people are suffering and dying every day because it’s a very rough terrain,” he concluded.