Governor ‘Seyi Makinde of Oyo State, has advocated the need to adopt a 5-year single tenure for President, governors, National Assembly and State Assembly members to stop the problems that usually arise from the quest for second term by politicians.
The governor made the call on Wednesday, at the retreat of the Pentecostal Fellowship of Nigeria (PFN), held at Maja Avenue, Jericho, Ibadan.
While admonishing Nigerians, particularly those in leadership positions to brace up for the task of rebuilding the country in line with the vision of the founding fathers, Makinde observed that it had become imperative for Nigerians to come together to rebuild the nation and reposition it on the path of sustainable economic growth and development, adding that the task of rebuilding the country remained the duty of Nigerians and should not be left for external actors.
Dwelling on the aptness of the theme of the retreat, “Going from Strength to Strength,” Makinde posited that the theme was in tandem with where Nigeria was supposed to be as a nation.
He noted that the call for rebuilding the nation should reawaken the consciousness of every Nigerian of the exigency of having a prosperous and egalitarian country with strong and efficient institutions of governance.
According to him, there was still a role for every Nigerian to play to ensure that all and sundry collectively make life better in the country despite the difficult and very challenging times in the nation.
He emphasised the power of consistent prayers and urged Christians not to relent in praying for the leaders and restoration of the nation’s glory.
The governor lamented that Nigeria was at the bottom instead of being the Giant of Africa, because the leaders had deviated from the standards set by the founding fathers.
He said: “I listened to the National President of PFN, Bishop Wale Oke on the theme chosen for this serious event, “Going from Strength to Strength,” well, I think this is really apt, because that is where we are supposed to be as a nation.”
“We must think about rebuilding our nation and the role the body of Christ has to play in that process. The Bible asked the Christians to pray for their leaders. As Christians, we can carry out the work that God has assigned to us effectively.
“Here in Nigeria, every four years, just like most democracies around the world, we come together as a nation to choose our leaders and I also listened to our Baba, National President of PFN, they said they have just finished the first half of their tenure. I am just hearing for the first time that there is no second term in PFN.
“Maybe, we need to learn one or two things from that arrangement for our nation. I am a supporter of a single term structure. As a matter of fact, I didn’t want second term and I told fathers of faith that look, four years not enough to do everything that you want to do, but it’s long enough to make your own impact and go your own way.
“But maybe, if we have the opportunity to discuss this, I think six years single term will really be enough for most of us to do whatever it is that we are supposed to do.
“These leaders God has asked us to pray for, are products of who the political parties present to us. And these leaders have been chosen, we are obligated to pray for them and work with them.
“Political parties will come and go, but our country will remain. We must pray for those in authority. Politics is over, it’s time for governance. Well, if we don’t like those in authority, what should we do? We have another opportunity in another four years to vote again.
“But in order to accomplish that, we must start from now to join politics. We cannot become politicaians when all politics has been done. We must make conscious efforts to join politics.
“And if we choose to allow the riff-raffs and the people that we have are not as intelligent as us to keep making decisions for us, then those decisions are binding on all of us.
“We have to tell our people, when you have ten politicians to take a decision, if they are all vague people, the decisions they will take will be vague.
“But if we have people with the fear of God, even a lone voice will make a difference. So, we must change our approach, not when it’s a year to the election, but from today,” the governor advised.
Earlier in his address, the National President of Pentecostal Fellowship of Nigeria (PFN), Bishop Wale Oke, said the retreat came at a very critical time of the nation’s history, recalling that the country had just gone through a general election that shook the nation to her core, which he said, almost pitched Nigerians against themselves.
“The church was not spared in this matter. It is time for us to bring the body together for total healing. We trust the Lord that this will begin from this retreat so that we may go and heal the nation,” he said.
