Third Term: Is it truly dead?
Chinedu Maduabum
Onitsha, Nigeria
Friday, May 26, 2006
Introduction
Tuesday,
the 16th of May 2006 will definitely go down memory lane in Nigeria
as a day of democracy triumphed. It came thirteen days before ‘democracy day,'
which is the 29th of every May. The day is a remarkable one because
the Senate formally buried the proposed constitutional amendment bill that was
primarily aimed at granting President Olusegun Obasanjo and Governors loyal to
him an extra four years in power. Many had interpreted it as twelve years or
better still an Obasanjo-for-life presidency. That day was greeted with joy and
wild celebration in many parts in the country, and it only made me to see
another uniting factor in the country outside football. Before now, football had
remained the only uniting factor in the country. Third-term agenda dazzled most
Nigerians to forget about their differences and to pray in uniform for its
defeat. Thus, on that day when the judgement was cast, Nigerians went to the
streets (emphasis in Umuahia) celebrating what many termed a triumph of
democracy over dictatorship.
In a quick move to salvage his image, the President, via the PDP National Chairman Ali, summoned an emergency meeting, where he claimed to have kept studied silence over the issue; not wanting to take sides as the debate raged. Inasmuch as most Nigerians welcome his acceptance speech of the outcome, many more still express doubt over his sincerity and commitment to abide by the rule of law. If a man speaks or acts with pure thoughts, happiness follows him like a shadow that never leaves but the moment there is suspicion about a person’s motives, everything he does becomes tainted. Thus, going by the President's antecedents, Nigerians and indeed vanguards of our improving democracy should not go to sleep.
Motives and Actions
The true motives of our actions, like the real pipes of an organ according to Charles Caleb Colton, are usually concealed; but the gilded and hollow pretext is pompously placed in the front for show. President Olusegun Obasanjo appeared a repentant man when I watched him deliver his speech at the PDP emergency meeting to mark the end of the third term agenda that would have sealed the deal for him in disguise. I watched the President speak and was almost dragged to the conclusion that he meant his words, when my mind immediately reflected to the incidents of late Chuba Okadigbo (former Senate President) and Chief Audu Ogbe (immediate past PDP Chairman).
We may go about believing that our words, which we assume to express our principles, represent us more truly even than our actions, but to the outsiders it is the actions that are more eloquent than the words. The president was so eloquent is his words when he was opening the house of the late Dr. Chuba Okadigbo, who was the then senate president of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. This was coming at the heat of a dispute between the executive and the legislative arms of government and, with the late Okadigbo at the helms of affairs in the Senate, it was always proving difficult for the president to have his way. On several occasions, then Senate President escaped impeachment and had to escape with the senate allegedly mace to his Ogbunike country home. The nation merely watched helplessly as the drama unfolded.
As if the President remembered of the historic account of the Romans and the Jews during the era of Constantine, he quickly struck a peace deal. The Senate President and his advisers could not read the biblical handwriting on the wall that warns of sudden destruction in the midst of peace! Peace! Peace! The Jews kept preaching the gospel against the wishes of the Romans and when Constantine deciphered that the more these people are killed, the more they sprang up, he put an end to the persecution and the rest is now history.
In the same vein, the President immediately struck a peace deal with the late Dr. Okadigbo and went as far as opening his residence. But the next to follow was sudden destruction. Within days, the Senate President had become an ordinary member and, from the bench, he watched the then US President Bill Clinton address a joint session of the national assembly. Senator Anyim Pius Anyim had assumed his position. What a way to hit at your enemy.
The other case was that of the immediate past PDP National Chairman, Chief Audu Ogbe. For long, the President had wanted to take full control of the party’s machinery, so as to execute his project (we now know as the third term project). But it has always proved difficult with Audu Ogbe as chairman. The President saw him as an opposition to his agenda. Audu Ogbe was suspected to be loyal to the Vice President, who also had a presidential ambition. (He recently launched it.) The issue was very clear: a hold of the chairmanship means maximum control of the party (Nigerian democracy). Thus, the president was bent to remove the elected party chairman whose tenure was yet to expire. The president was impatient (we now know also, it would have delayed his third-term agenda). The EFCC and ICPC were all used against the chairman, yet he stood his ground. But for how long?
The event is still very fresh in our memories, and it will be needless to dive into the details. However, one would not forget the event during one of the party’s meeting when the President and the Chairman (Ogbe) drove into the venue in the President’s official car. Nigerians felt the rift had been put to rest as both men were seen smiling and chatting like new-born babies. Many Nigerians felt the party was merely using their internal crisis as a shield whenever they want to execute a latent project. However, it was not so. Chief Audu Ogbe was forced to resign his position under duress, as he later claimed, at his apartment on the night of the same day of the meeting. There were reports that he had signed the resignation before the friendly outing while others reported that the friendly gesture was a plan to give the Chairman the impression that all was well only for him to meet his waterloo that night. Hence, the actions of the President are like the index of a book; they point out what is most remarkable in them. Let me spare you the details of the case with Dokubo, who is still in jail for treasonable felony.
These events have clearly shown the kind of person we are dealing with. The President may have appeared repentant in his speech and willing to make peace with all, more especially those who left the party for other parties. This is indeed a welcome development but if we take into consideration the President’s antecedents, his words should be dumped and buried just like the third-term agenda because all that one's action gains by falsehood is not to be believed even when he speaks the truth.
I am therefore urging Nigerians not to hook unto his words. There is no doubt, however, that the President may have repented but this will only be taken serious if the President returned the party machinery to its status quo as a first step.
As long as there are Ali, Ojo Maduekwe, Tony Anenih, Ibrahim [dis-mant(u)led] Mantu, and others, there will be no reason to swallow the President’s words. I do not mind lying and deceit, but I hate inaccuracy. The President has been inaccurate in his actions. Hence Nigerians should be on guard because truth is not only violated by falsehood; it will be equally outraged by silence.
The task ahead
The real task ahead presently is for the vanguards of our improving democracy to try and to foretell or decipher what the President can do next because it will be too wrong to go to sleep hoping that all is well. The President himself is not going to sleep as one of his errand boys in the Senate, Ugochukwu Uba, made clear: "It’s not yet over." Many may see his words as one who is merely encouraging himself amidst defeat, which is not far from the truth. The truth is that Obasanjo’s stepping down will automatically spell doom to the Uba dynasty in Anambra State. Hence, they will do everything to make sure the agenda is revived even if it means adding two years to the present one. Don’t you think it’s a possibility?
It will also be wrong to conclude that all is over when you still have people like the tireless Senator Arthur Nzeribe. His role in the annulment of June 12 is enough to give everyone sleepless nights. When everyone thought all was well, he came up with Association for Better Nigeria (ABN) and the result is now history. Many however do not know that it was the same Nzeribe who advised the President to compel on the Senate President to change the rules as the only way to salvage the third-term agenda. He would have succeeded if the Senate President had not been an opposition to the third term with one eye on the seat of the VP.... Don’t quote me yet.
Conclusion
Now that the issue of third term has been put to rest in the Senate and House of Representatives, it is indeed a sigh of relief at least for other aspirants to jostle up. It will be a huge erreur, however, if it is concluded at this stage. The President did not start the third-term agenda for the joy of power or power intoxication. No man embarks on a ‘deadly’ mission without a purpose and the gravity of risk in any mission tells of the reward afterward.
I will find it very hard to believe that the third-term mission was meant solely to consolidate the President’s strong economic leadership at home and political leadership in the African Union, Ecowas, and in regional conflict resolutions in Liberia and Sierra-Leone, for example. Inasmuch as they are very good achievements, which need follow-ups, the President will agree with me that he is not the only who can do it. And if he is sincere to himself, he will agree with me also that there is more behind the mask that he wishes to achieve. After all, there are heroes in evil as well as in good. However, the hero is a man who has fought and will continue to fight impressively for a cause of which the masses approve. Thus, the Nigerian people have approved for the death of third term and the people hopes the President will fight according to the law.
‘Physical bravery is an animal instinct; moral bravery is a much higher and truer courage.’
See you on the other side.
KEN NNAMANI: Protecting legislative due process