Political activist and former federal lawmaker, Dr. Usman Bugaje, has countered former President Olusegun Obasanjo’s denial of seeking a third term in office, insisting that the ex-president “did everything within his power” to extend his stay.
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Obasanjo, while speaking at a democracy dialogue hosted by the Goodluck Jonathan Foundation in Ghana last week, dismissed the long-debated controversy, saying:
“I’m not a fool. If I wanted a third term, I know how to go about it. And there is no Nigerian dead or alive that would say I called him and told him I wanted a third term,” he had said.
However, appearing on Arise Television’s Morning Show on Monday, Bugaje, who was a member of the National Assembly during Obasanjo’s administration, maintained that lawmakers at the time had direct knowledge of the third-term plot.
“I can confirm to you that Obasanjo looked for a third term. He did everything that he could within his power to get a third term, but he failed to do so,” Bugaje said.
The former lawmaker argued that Obasanjo’s defence was unconvincing, adding that Obasanjo’s agents threatened many lawmakers during that time.
“Now, the fact that he did not take a telephone to make a particular call to anybody is not sufficient evidence that he did not look for a third term. It’s just a matter of style, but all of us in the National Assembly at that time knew beyond any doubt that he worked day and night, and many of us were threatened by his own agents,” he said.
Bugaje recalled incidents of intimidation against lawmakers, citing the experience of Senator Victor Lar, then leader of the Northern caucus of the House of Representatives, who, according to him, was forced into hiding at different times before a decisive meeting to resist the third-term bid.
“Those people who actually distributed the money and threatened us are alive. Those who received the money are alive. Those who refused to receive the money are alive. There is sufficient evidence… this is a matter that is incontrovertible, there is no way he can deny it,” Bugaje stressed.
The “third term agenda” controversy dominated Nigeria’s political space in 2006 when an amendment to the 1999 Constitution, which would have allowed presidents to seek three consecutive terms, was brought before the National Assembly.
The third time proposal was widely believed to have been sponsored by allies of Obasanjo, who was then completing his second term in office.
The amendment, which included several other constitutional changes, was ultimately rejected after a heated debate in both chambers.
Civil society groups, opposition politicians, and even members of the ruling Peoples Democratic Party at the time mobilised against the plan, arguing that it would derail Nigeria’s democracy.
The failure of the amendment effectively ended any speculation of Obasanjo seeking another term, paving the way for the 2007 general elections that produced the late President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua as his successor.
PUNCH Online reports that Obasanjo had, in his New Year message in 2023, denied lobbying for a third time, saying that he could have got a third term in office if he wanted, saying he is “audacious enough” to get it.
However, a former Senate President, Adolphus Wabara, claimed that he turned down a N250 million bribe offered to support the controversial third-term agenda during Obasanjo’s administration.
When questioned about the veracity of this claim in an excerpt of a YouTube interview series, Untold Stories with Adesuwa, released in January 2024, Wabara firmly stated, “That’s very correct.”
Also, the former presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party, Atiku Abubakar, disclosed that his intimate relationship with National Assembly members when he was vice-president, stopped former President Obasanjo’s third-term bid.
Atiku said the relationship enabled him and some NASS members to stop Obasanjo’s third-term agenda, adding that he was eager to re-ignite with the NASS candidates after his election as president, along with their own successful election.
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