El-Rufai dismisses Obi, Amaechi’s one-term presidency pledge

Former Kaduna State governor, Nasir el-Rufai, has poured cold water on the one-term presidency pledges made by ex-presidential candidate Peter Obi and former transport minister Rotimi Amaechi, saying such promises are unrealistic and lack credibility.

Speaking on Sunday Politics, a Channels Television programme, el-Rufai said politicians should stop making commitments to serve only four years, because Nigerians no longer believe them.

Obi, who ran under the Labour Party (LP) in 2023, has repeatedly maintained that if elected in 2027, he would spend just one term, arguing that four years is enough to reset Nigeria.

Similarly, Amaechi, who recently declared interest in the 2027 race on the platform of the African Democratic Congress (ADC), said he would only serve one term to ensure stability and rotation of power.

READ ALSO: El-Rufai rules out 2027 ambition, Says He’s back to mentor youth, Support credible leadership

But el-Rufai, himself a former minister and two-term governor, said both men know from experience that four years is insufficient to drive meaningful reforms.

“Now, on the question of people coming out and saying, ‘I will do one term’, I don’t think anyone believes that,” he said.

“You should not constitutionally give up what is yours. And frankly, as someone who has been governor for eight years, and Amaechi and Peter Obi have both been governors, they know the time it takes to make meaningful change in government. Four years is not enough.”

He added that most politicians who make such pledges eventually change their minds once in power, urging aspirants to stop making “unrealistic” commitments.

On zoning, el-Rufai explained that his support for the transfer of power to the South in 2023 was rooted in an understanding among leaders of the All Progressives Congress (APC) during the party’s formation, not on the strategy of the opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).

“The ADC is still forming,” he said when asked about his stance on Amaechi’s new party. “When the party is fully formed, the leadership and founders will sit and decide on zoning. I am not privy to that discussion yet.”