2027: NDC campaign council counters Okorocha over Peter Obi’s one-term pledge

National Campaign Council of the Nigeria Democratic Congress (NDC) has defended Peter Obi’s pledge to serve only one presidential term if elected in 2027, rejecting former Imo Governor Rochas Okorocha’s description of the proposal as “a four-year gambling”.

The council’s Director-General, Mallam Ibrahim Hussain Abdulkarim, said a single presidential term was constitutionally permissible and should not be viewed as a gamble.

Abdulkarim stated this in a response to Okorocha’s comments during an interview on Channels Television’s Politics Today.

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He said the NDC campaign council agreed with Okorocha’s description of Obi as “a fantastic gentleman; clear in his head”, but disagreed with his assessment of the former Anambra State governor’s one-term proposal.

Citing Section 135(2) of the 1999 Constitution, Abdulkarim argued that the provision allowing a president to seek another four-year term does not make a second term compulsory.

He maintained that Obi’s pledge to serve for four years and leave office in 2031 was a commitment to accountability and national stability.

The NDC campaign council chief also criticised the performance of the administration that governed Nigeria between 2015 and 2023, citing inflation, naira depreciation, rising public debt, poverty and insecurity as evidence of what he described as the failure of prolonged tenure without corresponding performance.

According to him, Obi’s proposal is based on the belief that leadership should be assessed by results rather than the length of time spent in office.

Abdulkarim said the former Anambra governor had offered to be judged by his performance within one term and pledged to hand over power in 2031, which he described as recognition of the North’s claim to the presidency at that time.

“When a man entitled to eight years voluntarily chooses four and invites the nation to judge him by results, he is not gambling. He is sacrificing,” he said.

He described Obi’s proposal as “a rescue mission with a deadline”, insisting that Nigeria’s major challenge was not the length of presidential tenure but the failure of successive administrations to deliver meaningful results.