President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has praised the fifth National Assembly for defending Nigeria’s democracy in 2006 by rejecting a proposed constitutional amendment that would have enabled former President Olusegun Obasanjo to seek a third term in office.
Tinubu, addressing a joint session of the National Assembly on June 12 in Abuja, declared that the failed third-term push could have torn the constitution apart and undermined Nigeria’s democratic progress.
“In 2006, the 5th National Assembly protected our democracy against an unseemly third-term bid that would have ripped our constitution apart,” Tinubu said. “The National Assembly has acted to uphold democratic ideals at every critical moment in our national history.”
The President also commended the legislature’s other key interventions, including its invocation of the Doctrine of Necessity in 2010, which enabled then-Vice President Goodluck Jonathan to become Acting President following President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua’s prolonged illness.
Reflecting on past democratic struggles, Tinubu recalled defying the military regime of General Sani Abacha after it dissolved the National Assembly in 1993. “Some of us, led by Senator Ameh Ebute, reconvened in defiance of Abacha in Lagos. We were jailed for our defiance,” he noted.
Tinubu stressed the importance of cooperation between the executive and legislative arms. “While we may not always agree, we must forge a way to work together because this is what democracy demands of us,” he said.
In a related development, former Senator Olusola Adeyeye recently revealed new details about the controversial third-term bid. Speaking on a TV programme in March, Adeyeye alleged that Obasanjo’s administration offered ₦70 million bribes to lawmakers to support the unconstitutional extension.
Adeyeye, who was then a member of the opposition, shared how attempts were made to remove dissenting voices from key discussions. He recounted how he was sent on a diplomatic trip to China under suspicious circumstances, only to realize it was a strategic move to sideline him during critical debates.
“That was when my struggle began,” he said. “I later discovered that my trip was a ploy to get me out of the way during the third-term deliberations.”
Obasanjo’s third-term plan ultimately failed, with the National Assembly voting it down in a historic moment widely seen as a turning point for Nigeria’s democracy.
