Political activist and former federal lawmaker, Dr. Usman Bugaje, has said ex-President Olusegun Obasanjo “did everything within his power” to extend his tenure beyond constitutionally recognised two terms.
Obasanjo had debunked working on a third-term agenda while speaking at a democracy dialogue hosted by the Goodluck Jonathan Foundation in Ghana last week.
He said: “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.”
But on a national television programme yesterday, Bugaje, who was a member of the National Assembly during Obasanjo’s tenure, 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, saying the former President’s agents threatened many lawmakers who opposed the third-term move during the 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 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.
The former lawmaker said Lar 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 an incontrovertible matter. There is no way he can deny it,” Bugaje added.
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-term proposal was widely believed to have been sponsored by allies of Obasanjo, who was then completing his second term in office.
The proposed amendment, which included several other constitutional changes, was ultimately rejected after a heated debate in both chambers of the National Assembly.
Civil society groups, opposition politicians, and even members of the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) 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 election that produced the late President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua as his successor.
Obasanjo had, in his New Year message in 2023, denied lobbying for a third time, saying he could have got it if he wanted.
He also described himself as “audacious enough” to get whatever he wanted.
But 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 tenure.
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, former Vice President Atiku Abubakar confirmed that his intimate relationship with National Assembly members under Obasanjo enabled him to stop Obasanjo’s third-term bid.
