Lagos — Former Governor of Lagos State, Bola Tinubu, is reputed for championing change and enthronement of electoral reforms in the polity. He had at the resumed Senate public hearing on the review of the 1999 Constitution on Wednesday, October 14, canvassed a single tenure of eight years for chairman of Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).

Tinubu had stressed that giving the INEC chairman a non-renewable term of eight years would enhance credibility of the electoral process. "If you give the INEC chairman a non-renewable term of eight years, his job is secured for eight years, he will be able to act according to his conscience," Tinubu proposed.

But some Nigerians have contrary views on the issue. They argue that giving an INEC chairman the whole of eight years in office would compound the many problems bedeviling democracy in Nigeria. They, instead, vote for change of attitude among politicians.

There are also others, who insist that what matters most is not even the number of years an INEC chairman stays in office but the person vested with the power to appoint the INEC chairman.

A Lagos-based activist lawyer, Festus Keyamo, appears to toe this path of logic as he maintains that the power to appoint the INEC chairman is paramount to its transparency.

"I don't think the number of years of the INEC chairman is as important as the power to appoint him and the security of his tenure. It is the power to appoint him and the security of the tenure of the INEC chairman that will guarantee his transparency," Keyamo stated.

Tinubu's role in charting a course for the political future of the country is not new. He has remained, in the opinion of many, an advocate of democracy and rallying point for agents of electoral reforms in the polity. Under the military rule, he stuck out his neck for democratic system, joining hands with pro-democracy activists to champion a return to democracy under the platform of National Democratic Coalition (NADECO).

Recently, he has been in the forefront for the formation of Committee for the Defense of Electoral Reforms (CODER), geared towards championing a rebirth in Nigeria's electoral system and implementation of the Mohammed Uwais electoral report

Born on March 29, 1952, in Lagos, Tinubu attended the Chicago State University in the US where he obtained a Bachelor of Science degree in Business Administration, specialising in Accounting and Management. His political career gained national prominence in 1992, when he was elected to represent Lagos West constituency in the Senate of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. He later joined the National Democratic Coalition (NADECO) to fight for the revalidation of the cancelled June 12, 1993 presidential elections, widely believed to have been won by business mogul, the late Moshood Kashimawo Olawale (MKO) Abiola.

He went into exile thereafter in 1994, and returned to the country after the death of former Military leader, General Sani Abacha in 1998. Subsequently, he was elected Governor of Lagos State on the platform of Alliance for Democracy (AD) in 1999, before defecting to Action Congress (AC), where he has remained a strong voice.