The Senator representing Abia North Senatorial District and former Governor of Abia State, Orji Uzor Kalu, has accused former President Olusegun Obasanjo of ‘lying to Nigerians’ about his alleged bid to secure a third term in office during his tenure as Nigeria’s leader.
Speaking on Channels Television’s Politics Today, Kalu dismissed Obasanjo’s recent denial of the third term agenda as a ‘naked fallacy,’ insisting that the former president had personally confided in him and several other governors about his intention to amend the constitution to enable him to remain in power beyond 2007.
‘With due respect to President Obasanjo, what he said in Ghana was a naked lie, a naked fallacy,’ Kalu declared. ‘Many people who were part of that period are still alive – David Mark is alive, others are alive. They know the truth.’
The senator alleged that substantial sums of money were distributed to lawmakers in an attempt to gain their support for the proposed constitutional amendment that would have extended Obasanjo’s tenure.
‘Senator Wande brought ?50 million which they shared, and they asked me if I would take as a governor,’ Kalu recounted. ‘I said no – go and give it back. Even the National Security Adviser at that time was aware of what was happening. Obasanjo was at the centre of it all.’
According to Kalu, his refusal to support the move was the beginning of his political rift with the former president.
‘My quarrel with him started when I told Presidents Thabo Mbeki of South Africa and George Bush of the United States that Obasanjo was running for a third term,’ he said. ‘I even told Nelson Mandela, may his soul rest in peace. They all confronted him. I don’t know why Nigeria should be built on lies by statesmen.’
Responding to Obasanjo’s recent claim that no Nigerian ‘dead or alive’ could assert he sought a third term, Kalu maintained that the former president had personally discussed the plan with him.
‘Of course, he told me in the Villa,’ Kalu said. ‘That was the beginning. I told him it was not possible. He had already convinced some governors, but people like me and a few others said no. I am a committed Christian. I took an oath with the Bible to serve for only eight years, and that was the end of it.’
He added that Obasanjo often referred to long-serving leaders such as Libya’s Muammar Gaddafi as justification for his ambition, an idea Kalu described as fundamentally undemocratic.
‘He used to say Gaddafi was still there, others were still there,’ Kalu recalled. ‘But democracy is about the rule of law. The beauty of constitutional democracy is the time limits. If the constitution says eight years, nobody should go beyond that. Anyone who tries is inviting the wrath of God.’
Kalu maintained that the third term plot was widely known among the political class at the time.
‘He told many northern governors too. If those governors are courageous enough, they will say the truth,’ Kalu said. ‘He wanted a third term, and we stopped him. He was even at loggerheads with Governor Peter Odili over it. The man cannot rewrite history – it is clear he wanted a third term.’
The lawmaker stated that his resistance to Obasanjo’s ambition was motivated by his commitment to constitutional order rather than personal grievances.
‘We stopped him because of the constitution,’ he affirmed. ‘Our constitution is supreme. Even the U.S. government under President George Bush supported efforts to stop him. History will remember that some of us stood for democracy,’ he said.