ON MISFIRING SECOND TERM GOVERNORS AND WHY WE SHOULD END SECOND TENURE FOR GOVERNORS.

The 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria as amended invited Section 182(1)(b) clearly affirms that no person shall be qualified for election to the office of Governor of a State if (b) he has been elected to such office at any two previous elections...

Now, this restriction appears fair enough especially given that the United States of America, a country we so desperately seek to be like at least on a surface level is widely flexible as regards the number of terms that Governors are entitled to.
For instance, The Governors of states like New Hampshire, Vermont, Connecticut, Idaho, Illinois, Iowa, Massachusetts, Minnesota, New York, North Dakota, Texas, Utah, Washington, Wisconsin, District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico are allowed unlimited terms in office.

So, with Nigeria's proclivity for copying, albeit embarrassingly poorly, everything that the United States of America does, it is rather strange and of course a pleasant surprise that the drafters of the 1999 Constitution in their wisdom decided to limit the number of times a person can seek election into executive positions which is a sharp deviation from the practise in most states in the United States of America.

Of course, the wisdom of the drafters of the 1999 Constitution is most flawless with special reference to the limitation the constitution imposed on holders of executive positions in Nigeria.

Indeed, it is not rocket science to identify that the primary reason behind the constitutionally imposed limit on the term of executive positions in Nigeria is to minimize abuse of power on the part of these executive office holders.
To an extent, one is even tempted to infer that the drafters of the 1999 Constitution perfectly studied the psychology of the average Nigerian Politician and their unquenchable thirst for political power which mostly comes from being in elective positions hence the limit on the number of times they are allowed to occupy office.

However, it appears that despite the best intentions in limiting elected executive officials to only two tenures, these elected executives appear to have outsmarted the spirit behind the limitations.
Hence, instances abound of how first term Governor's did "wonders" in their first tenures only to be "awarded" second tenures and then turn around to be the opposites of the Governors they were in their first tenures.
Empirically in Nigeria at least, most second term Governors are awful and they are usually shadows of their first tenure selves. For instance, in a State like Edo State, Adams Oshiomhole in his first tenure made Edo people believe again but his second tenure was nothing compared to his first.

And of course, if there is a flagship to illustrate how unnecessary Nigerian politicians have made the idea of a second term for any Governor or indeed, any elected Executive official, it is undoubtedly a certain Owelle Rochas Anayo Okorocha who has used his second tenure to reach worrisome heights in comic and petty Governance in Imo State.
He has gone from building statues in "honour" of "heroes" and in his own words, "female heroes" who have not done anything worthy of being honored in the lives of regular Imo citizens and Nigerians generally.
And of course, not forgetting his most recent trailblazing appointment of his Sister to the office of Commissioner for Happiness and Couples' fulfillment.
The mentality of the average Nigerian politician who gets into elective executive positions is to work in their first tenures so that re-electing them for a second tenure wouldn't be such a bad idea to the voters.
I understand that there is no scientific proof of this assertion yet but the empirical evidence from the performances of over 80 per cent of Governors in their second tenures since 2011 points to the fact that most Governors are painfully too ineffective in their second tenures as opposed to the vibrance that marked their first tenures.
A major reason for the drop in performance levels can be seen in the fact that in their second tenures, there is no danger of not being reelected and this causes them to take things for granted which leads to them being largely ineffective.

Now, since Nigerian politicians have shown to be unrepentantly irresponsible, the constitutionally guaranteed two terms is turning out to be an undeserved largesse.
And in the interest of National growth, it would serve us better to have an amended constitution where executive officials would be allowed to only a single tenure of office.
I know a single term doesn't exactly solve the problem of bad and irresponsible political office holders but at least it saves us the horror of having to spend four years under an incompetent and unserious Government in the name of a second tenure; it saves us the embarrassment of having jokers like Rochas create the most hilarious ministries to empower his family members.