Former Vice President Atiku Abubakar has proposed a six-year single-term rotational presidency between Nigeria’s northern and southern regions.
In a letter to Deputy Senate President Jibrin Barau, Chairman of the Senate Committee on Constitution Review, he urged that this proposal be included in the ongoing constitutional amendment process by the National Assembly.
Dated August 29, 2024, the letter, which became public this week, was signed by Atiku, the 2023 presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP). He recommended that a new paragraph be added to Section 130(1) of the 1999 Constitution, stating: “The office of the President shall rotate among the six geopolitical zones of the Federation on a single term of six years flowing between the North and South.”
Additionally, he called for an amendment to Section 135(2) to specify that the President shall vacate office at the end of six years from the date of election.
Atiku Abubakar has pursued the presidency six times over the past three decades.
In the 2023 election, he received 6,984,520 votes, finishing behind Bola Tinubu of the All Progressives Congress (APC), who garnered 8,794,726 votes and was inaugurated as President on May 29, 2023.
