President Muhammadu Buhari on Tuesday said those who are opposed to his second term were major proponents of a failed third term agenda.
Buhari said he was only seeking a second term unlike those who desperately wanted a third term. Though he did not mention names, it is believed that the president was refering to former President Olusegun Obasanjo who served as president from 1999 – 2007.
The former president was believed to have sought the elongation of his tenure in the twilight of his administration in 2007.
What became the “Third Term Agenda” collapsed when the National Assembly threw out the Constitutional Amendment into which it was inserted.
Speaking at the MKO Abiola Democracy Park in Akure, the Ondo State capital, venue of the APC campaign rally for his re-election, President Buhari, who did not mention Obasanjo’s or anybody’s name, said:
”We have just finished one term and are seeking a second one, and after that the constitution doesn’t permit anymore. There are some who tried looking for more but they did not succeed. We should learn from their mistakes,” the special assistant tweeted on tolu ogunlesi (@toluogunlesi) February 5, 2019.
Between 2006 and 2007, the former president was reported to have attempted ruling for a third term, after the expiration of his two-term tenure, permitted by the constitution.
A bill was sponsored at the National Assembly to extend term limits by another four years, but the lawmakers, who were said to have been “bribed”, did not ratify the bill.
Obasanjo, who supported Buhari in 2015, is backing Atiku Abubakar of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to unseat the incumbent president.
APC stalwart Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, who also addressed a crowd of supporters, berated the opposition party for raising rigging allegations.
He said the PDP was only afraid of APC shadow because it introduced rigging into the electoral process.
According to Tinubu, the PDP has admitted failure even before the election by its allegation that APC and Buhari planned to rig the February 16 general elections.
He said: “The PDP claimed that the APC was planning to rig election. How can you rig an election that has not been conducted? This is a clear fact that the PDP was preparing for failure. The PDP has admitted its loss of the election even before the election is conducted.”
Also, APC National Chairman Adams Oshiomhole said the PDP ruined the nation’s economy in 16 years, stressing that the current economic problems being experienced were caused by the PDP.
He said: “Both Obasanjo and Jonathan did not remember the poor when they were in government, but Buhari places the poor above the rich through his people-oriented programmes.”
The APC chair alleged that the PDP believed that the government should be used as an avenue to enrich individuals, hence the claim by its presidential candidate, Atiku, that he will privatise the Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC).
Governor Oluwarotimi Akeredolu assured Buhari and the leadership of the APC that the state will vote APC.
He said: “In 2015 when the state was not under the control of the APC, we won; how much more now that we are in control of the state. President Buhari should go and sleep as he is winning the election by the grace of God.”
Other leaders at the rally were: Governors Gboyega Oyetola (Osun); Kayode Fayemi (Ekiti); Ibikunle Amosun (Ogun); Godwin Obaseki (Edo); APC Deputy National Chairman (South) Niyi Adebayo; Chief Bisi Akande and Senator Olorunnimbe Mamora, among others.
