Permit me to offer a word of prayer for the President and Commander in Chief of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, His Excellency, President Muhammadu Buhari who from every indication is indisposed. Everyone deserves a good health and the President deserves it even more to enable him cope with the demand of the office. I pray Almighty God to grant him good health. I urge all my readers to spare a moment to pray for the good and hearty health of the President.
All governments are liars and murderers. Many things happen behind the scene and they tell you what they want you to know. The mainstream media are always ready and available to confuse the public by sustaining misleading and confusing narratives. The media don’t just turn villains into heroes they also make the people love those they are supposed to hate and to hate those they are meant to love.
Like the Nigeria first coup of January 15, 1966, the full story of Obasanjo’s 3rd term is yet to be told. There are those that believe that Major Chukwuma Kaduna Nzeaogwu was the leader of the January 15, revolution. At-least the mainstream media has consistently held to this view. But, men like Col. Chwukwuemeka Ojukwu, the late Biafra leader who helped foil the coup would have none of the tale. According to Ojukwu, Nzeogwu wasn’t the leader of the revolution. Little mentioned Major Emmanuel Arinze Ifeajuna, the first black Africa to win gold medal in the commonwealth and in an international sporting event was leader of the putsch. Both Nzeogwu and Ifeajuna died during the Nigeria -Biafra war without writing a memoir.
The story I will tell was inspired by His Excellency, Governor Masari’s recent tale on Obasanjo’s 3rd term as relayed in the Sun Newspaper of February 8. My story may not be popular with the public, but it’s the truth about the 3rd term agenda and I hope those who need to speak up on the issue do so for the sake of posterity.
Speaking to the Sun Newspaper, Katsina State Governor, Hon. Aminu Bello Masari, revealed how he, as the Speaker of the House of Representatives between 2003 and 2007, joined forces with former Senate President, Ken Nnamani, to mobilise members of the 5th National Assembly to kill the third term agenda of former President Olusegun Obasanjo in 2007.
In the publication, Governor Masari said the reluctance of Obasanjo to leave office, after two terms of eight years, led a super power nation to lobby Nnamani and him to reject the 2007 flawed presidential election, with an offer to support them to emerge as interim President and Vice President respectively.
Explaining what transpired behind the scene at the twilight of the Obasanjo administration, Masari said he had to join others to defend the overall interest of the country, rather than promoting a selfish agenda.
According to him, “we started a journey from 2003 to 2007. Immediately after 2007 election, Ken Nnamani and myself, and some few others started meeting. PDP was so pervasive in the polity that it failed to reform. I know the role we played – not only about stopping the third term, but also to sustain the 2007 election, as bad as it was.
“I think Senator Ken Nnamani and myself deserve some recognition, as we not only killed the third term, but also saved the 2007 election.
I will not dispute Governor Masari on the election that brought in Late Yaradua as even Yar’adua himself admitted that the election that brought him in as President was flawed, but will dispute him on the role played by himself and Nnamani in killing the 3rd term agenda.
It is significant that Gov. Masari corroborated the fact that there was indeed a 3rd term agenda as to continue to insist otherwise is to say the least , a huge fallacy. Former President Obasanjo knows the truth about the seriousness of his 3rd term agenda. He knew those for and those against the agenda, but his needless denial of the existence of the project has made it difficult for him to come clean thus robbing Nigerians of the truth.
There was a 3rd term project of which he former President Obasanjo was to be the sole beneficiary. The project was well funded with Senator Mantu , the then Deputy Senate President as the main arrow head. Nnamani and Masari cooperated with Mantu, likewise Senators Mark and Tunde Ogbeha. Many law makers from both chambers of the National Assembly were heavily induced with some receiving as much as N50M.
Because the promoters of the agenda were over confident about their plan, which they thought to be fait accompli, they made the fatal decision to televise the proceedings live on television so as to convince the public , especially the US and the UK that Obasanjo’s third term was a popular wish of the Nigerian people in the event the agenda scales through.
Senator Ken Nnamani and then Rt. Hon Masari as presiding officers could not do anything to change the tide of event when fellow lawmakers overwhelmingly rejected the proposal on the floor.
The real hero of 3rd term is Senator Ibrahim Mantu , the then Deputy Senate President. Mantu was a double agent. He worked for 3rd Term in the day, but against the project at night. The Presidency provided him with all the resources and cover he needed and he recruited many foot soldiers from both chambers.
While working for the Presidency on the agenda , he was holding secret meetings with groups opposed to 3rd Term. The opposition group were led by the former Vice President , Abubakar Atiku, a man Nigerians must learn to appreciate. Atiku risked everything to save democracy and Nigeria. Without Atiku there wouldn’t have been a Yar’adua, Jonathan or even Buhari’s presidency. Obasanjo would have been the Nigeria version of President Robert Mugabe. But Atiku changed the equation by rebelling against the President he was deputizing.
Other high profile members of the Anti 3rd term group were Governors Orji Uzo Kalu, Bola Tinubu , Ibrahim Kure , Attahiru Bafawara , Rabiu Kwakwanso, Lawan Shuaibu , Adolphus Nwabara , Segun Osoba, Uche Chukwmerije and a host of others.
The opposition used Mantu, the arrow head and insider to torpedo 3rd term. If Nigerians should recognize anyone as hero for killing former President Obasanjo’s 3rd term agenda , Mantu should be the man , followed by His Excellency Alhaji Abubakar Atiku. Not Nnamani nor Masari.
Without Atiku and Mantu , 3rd term would have been a walk over with its collateral consequences.
The presidency was livid by Mantu’s betrayal and punished him by ensuring he never came back to the Senate. All of the men who opposed 3rd term suffered various degrees of reprisals under President Obasanjo. Some of them are still paying the price of their opposition, with the public still unappreciative of their enormous sacrifice. Former Governor Orji Kalu had all his businesses grounded and oil block licenses revoked including Slok Airlines , Hallmark Banks etc all in the fight against 3rd term and the survival of democracy,.
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