Chief Wole Olanipekun, a senior lawyer and former President of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA), has disclosed that a proposal for a single-term presidency was presented to former President Olusegun Obasanjo but was rejected. Olanipekun believes this idea could have significantly contributed to Nigeria’s political stability.
Speaking to journalists on Saturday in Ikere Ekiti during the 28th Scholarship Award and 5th Empowerment Programme of the Wole Olanipekun Foundation, he detailed the proposal crafted by the NBA during his tenure as President.
The event witnessed scholarships granted to 150 students across secondary schools, universities, and the Nigerian Law School.
Additionally, 150 individuals received entrepreneurship grants, 100 aged and widows benefitted from support funds, and 600 others gained from palliative distributions.
Olanipekun recalled, “When I was the President of the NBA, we developed the single-term presidency proposal. We suggested a five- or six-year term with structured representation from the six geo-political zones. This included six vice presidents, each assigned specific ministerial portfolios.”
The plan, according to him, aimed to ensure equitable power rotation among the zones. He added that the Constitution required rethinking to address Nigeria’s unique socio-political challenges.
“We suggested to him (Obasanjo) a single term of five or six years, not the way they are bandying it now. Our own was well worked out. We worked on it, we researched on it.
“We suggested then that there are six geo-political zones, if the President comes from the South-West, for example, there will be six vice presidents, but each of the six vice presidents must have a portfolio. For instance, a vice president will be in charge of the Ministry of Justice as Attorney General, one will be in charge of Education, one in charge of Defence, one in charge of the Federal Capital Territory and another in charge of Works.
“We suggested that a geo-political zone that has a vice president who holds the portfolio of Education will not have a Minister of Education. We worked it out, we did everything for him, and that if paradventure, a President from a particular geo-political zone is impeached or dies in office, the vice president from that geo-political zone will complete his tenure. Next time around, the Presidency will just move to the next geo-political zone. By now, it would have moved round, but it didn’t work out.”
Olanipekun, who said Nigeria needed a Constitution that would factor the interest of all geo-political zones, said, “I am still of the view that we have to do something with that aspect of the Constitution, that we have to look into it.
“The Constitution, to me, does not reflect what we have on the ground as Nigeria. We deserve a Constitution that is home-grown. No Constitution is perfect, but then we cannot be going on with an imperfect Constitution amending and amending.”
During the event, Ekiti State Governor Biodun Oyebanji applauded Olanipekun’s contributions to education and empowerment. He urged other citizens to emulate his example of selfless service. Similarly, the Ogoga of Ikere Ekiti, Oba Adejimi Adu-Alagbado, described Olanipekun as a model of leadership and encouraged the youth to prioritize hard work over social vices.
