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General Obasanjo’s Third Term Albatross By Ayo Makinde
The third term burning ambition (even if latent) is perhaps the biggest moral burden of President Obasanjo’s political life. Despite desperate efforts to bury it, the issue always bobs up like a bad penny. And wherever he goes, the third issue will continue to dog Gen. Obasanjo. His latest non-categorical confirmation or denial of such ambition during a recent American trip demonstrates the extent of credibility crisis that haunts the President. He told his Western audience that the alleged third term ambition was not his immediate priority. However, he stopped short of ruling out the possibility of jumping at the third term bait once the possibility presents itself. At the same time, he has not categorically distanced himself from the loyal efforts of third term campaigners.
While President Obasanjo has studiously parried the third term question whenever and whenever it crops up, the self-styled PDP National Chairman Col. Ahmadu Ali (rtd) has been just as busy cracking any shell of credibility Gen. Obasanjo can ever claim over the tenure extension controversy. No issue in recent history threatens to mortally stab President Obasanjo’s integrity like the third term ambition, despite repeated but unconvincing denials by his minders or spin doctors. The credibility gap between the President’s reassurances to respect the sanctity of our constitution and the emerging reality of a third term ambition is widening by the day.
In particular, the public utterances of Col. Ahmadu Ali about the necessity, desirability or wisdom of tenure extension for the President is rapidly feeding public suspicion about the President’s sincerity regarding his commitment to remain in office or defy his term limit after 2007. At a recent public function in Benin, Col. Ali made no bones about the desire by his party to let President Obasanjo have the constitution altered to secure a tenure extension for him in order to consolidate the debatably successful reform implementations.
According to Col. Ali, Nigeria would relapse into imminent decay should President Obasanjo surrender power in 2007; our constitution must therefore, be amended to let Gen. Obasanjo continue the magic of his achievements in office so far! He argued that since Gen. Obasanjo abdicated office in 1979, Nigeria deteriorated in every respected in national life, but it picked up when he was elected in 1999 to restore the lost glory of the country. The PDP Chairman has accused journalists as being the main enemies of the third term agenda, but he vowed that nothing would stop the tenure extension train.
To demonstrate that he meant business, Col. Ali stormed the National Assembly, where he warned PDP Senators and Reps to throw their weight behind the third term agenda or quit the party. In other words, the lawmakers should discard the mood of the electorate and bend the constitution to suit the ambition of one man to rule for life. Strictly speaking, Col. Ali’s remark at the National Assembly was more of a diktat than polite advice, because he warned the PDP Senators and Reps that loyalty to the party must be total.
Therefore, even as tenure extension is bound to bring enormous ill will for the PDP and members of the party in the National Assembly, such a potential risk does not count in the eyes of Col. Ahmadu Ali. It is very curious why lawmakers elected in their own right should be treated like children by a party chairman who was never legitimately elected in the first place. He was imposed on party members to prepare the ground for the demolition of genuine democratic institutions including the National Assembly. Why shouldn’t the lawmakers be allowed to vote according to their conscience in a manner consistent with the genuine interest of the Nigerian electorate? Should the lawmakers abandon the dictates of their conscience and the interest of those who elected them by giving mechanical support to tenure extension? Is tenure extension consistent with the general discontent and disillusionment with the policies of the Obasanjo administration, which have made life increasingly unbearable and hopeless? Should the Senators and Representatives ignore this reality of the Nigerian people?
Why is our President afraid of putting his popularity to the test by allowing our lawmakers vote freely according to their oath of office? If the tenure extension is such a popular project, why was it necessary for the PDP National Chairman to storm the National Assembly to issue threats to independent-minded Senators and Representatives about how they should vote.
Nobody should, however, be amazed by Col. Ali’s sabre-rattling, since he was not a product of genuine democratic process. President Obasanjo brought him to office against the wishes of party members and in contravention of the provision of the PDP constitution. Considering the undemocratic manner he was brought to office, Col. Ali would stoop to anything to please his master, even if it means perverting everything democracy stands for. His threats to Senators is only a reflection of the increasing desperation with which the Col. and other pro-third term lackeys are ready to go to impose a tenure extension on frustrated and angry Nigerian citizens, who badly want to see the back of this administration in 2007.
But do our lawmakers realize the extent of public frustration about the perceived fear that the National Assembly may betray Nigerians for a mess of pottage or lack of moral courage? Are they ready to rush to their holes like mortally frightened rats just because Col. Ahmadu Ali has threatened them? Does the Chairman have the powers to sack lawmakers just they refuse to endorse the third term agenda?
The position of Col. Ali and other die-hard third term campaigners is increasingly vitiating the weight of whatever denial the President may make about the reality of the tenure extension. Is the President a hostage to his own silent third term ambition or a captive in the hands of self-seeking loyalists? Are the third term promoters working at cross-purposes with the President or working in collaboration to fool domestic and international audience?
Whichever way the interpretation goes, the President must be floundering in the quagmire of self-doubt or fear of his own credibility, which is hanging in the balance as a result of the third term dilemma. The recent editorial by the New York Times of the U.S.A. shows that the issue is receiving increased international interest, because the growth of genuine democratic practice is a basic standard in dealing with other nations by the United States. The unflattering comments by U.S. officials about the state of human rights and political intolerance in Nigeria is a major hot potato for the Obasanjo administration, which wants to see itself remarkably different from other African dictatorships hiding behind the semblance of practicing democracy.
It is therefore, surprising when the Minister of Information, Mr. Frank Nweke (Jnr) attacked the American Newspaper for what he called biased or distorted editorial opinion. The Minister should have saved his breath because, in reality, the newspaper was economical with the truth, considering many atrocities committee against the opposition and members of the PDP, who refused to join the third term train. As Rouchecaufold noted, “the opinion of our opponents is far closer to the truth than the best compliments the flatterers can pay to us”.
The denial game by the government officials does not significantly change the public perception that the President is obstinately determined to stick to power like a limpet. If, however, the President can summon the courage to repudiate the sycophants urging him to continue in office regardless of term limits, a possibility of salvaging the vestige of his reputation, which has been harmed by the third term agenda, still exists. And the earlier President Obasanjo makes up his mind categorically about this dangerously divisive third term issue controversy.
AYO MAKINDE.
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