Obi’s One-Term Promise A Political Strategy To Avoid Losing Votes In The North — Kenneth Okonkwo
A member of the opposition coalition, Kenneth Okonkwo, has described the promise by a former governor of Anambra State, Peter Obi, to serve for one term if elected as President as a political strategy to curry favour with the North.
Okonkwo explained that Obi knew that if he did not make the promise, he would lose votes from the northern region of the country.
“So I brought the theory as a way for any opposition party to inspire Nigerians to know that each side will not lose when they make any choice, whether north or south.
“So, it was even Atiku Abubakar that first of all said he was going to do one term, then Peter Obi now keyed into it because he knows that if he, as a younger person, does not make that promise, he loses the entire North,” he said on Channels Television’s Sunrise Daily on Friday.
“So it’s purely a political strategy to say, ‘Look, I am not going to cut the eight years. I’m not going to shortchange you. So if I am elected, I will just do only four years to complete the eight years of the South.’ So that’s just the whole idea about it,” he added.
According to him, any party serious about defeating an incumbent must agree that its presidential candidate would serve for one term so that no side will feel cheated.
The lawyer stated, “I was the one who propounded it (one-term presidency) as a theory, saying that any party that is serious about fighting an incumbent must have to say that whoever is going to contest should have to do one term so that no side will feel cheated.
“So if you are a southerner, if you don’t agree to do one term, the northerners will say you want to do another eight years, which will offend the system. If you are a northerner, if you don’t agree to do one term, the southerners will say that means you want to cut us short early.”
One-Term Presidency
Obi, Labour Party’s presidential candidate in the 2023 election, had said in a July 2025 interview on Channels Television’s Sunday Politics that he did not need more than four years to provide good governance for all Nigerians, insisting on his single-term proposal.
“I don’t need a day more than four years. I will show the direction of good governance. In two years, there has been maximum damage. Two years can change it in a good direction. People want to get up and see a president that cares, that shows compassion,” said the former governor.
In August, the 2023 presidential candidate advocated a single term of five years for the office of the President of Nigeria, as practised in South Korea, where the president cannot seek re-election after a single term of five years in office.
Obi said this would make the occupier know that they had a job to do within the limited time available.
“If I have the opportunity, we should stop having a second tenure for presidents. It should be five years. That is what is in South Korea, so people come in and know that they have a job to do,” Obi said when he paid a visit to the Bauchi State Governor, Bala Mohammed.
