Despite President Muhammadu Buhari’s rebuttal to gun for a third term in the office, Nigerians are still doubtful following moves by some eccentric politicians attempting to canvass for such without any warning from the Presidency.
For instance, Charles Enya, a member of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Ebonyi state, is the undertaker wanting the imposition of a third term agenda to further his political intrigue.
Enya, who was the organising secretary for President Buhari’s campaign organization during the 2019 general election has filed a suit (FHC/AI/CS/90/19) before a federal high court in Abakiliki seeking the amendment of the constitution to allow President Muhammadu Buhari get another term in office.
Nigerians are stunned that a National Assembly legislator has furtively initiated the move through a backwater approach- court, an action seen as a camouflaged attempt to notch the constitutional malaise.
Unlike some smart politicians who would have decoyed the aberration via House of Representatives which he is a member and then Senate, the attention-seeking politician is rooting the anomaly (instead of pushing for the welfare of his poor constituens) through a court to distract poor Nigerians and human rights activists.
Senator Ibrahim Mantu, one of the arrow heads of a third term agenda for former president, Olusegun Obasanjo, in 2006 pushed through the Senate until the Red Chambers threw out a constitutional amendment bill.
Enya’s kinsman, Arthur Nzeribe, a one-time Senator from Imo State on June 10, 1993, relying on a court order of pseudo Association for Better Nigeria (ABN), got from a midnight ruling from the late Justice Bassey Ikpeme of Abuja High Court, tried to stop the election of MKO Abiola, then acclaimed winner of June 12 general elections for tenure elongation of former Nigerian military President Ibrahim Babangida, but he failed woefully.
The APC member described the two-term tenure limit for presidents and governors as “discriminatory” in relation to the executive and legislative branches of government in Nigeria, in the suit which has Mohammed Sani-Omolori, clerk of the national assembly; the national assembly and Abubakar Malami, attorney-general of the federation and minister of justice as defendants.
This came as President Buhari speaking last Friday during a meeting of the National Executive Committee (NEC) of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) at the party’s national secretariat in Abuja, debauked that he would not seek a third term in office at the end of his second term in 2023.
“I said you should read the Constitution because I am not going to make a mistake. Besides the age, I am not going to contest for third term because I will go by the Constitution. The Constitution says two-terms. I’m going to be frank here because I won’t be needing anybody’s vote,” President Buhari said in his address to the meeting.
The 1999 Nigerian Constitution (as amended) sets a two-term limit for the president and state governors, but that has not stopped speculations that Mr Buhari may want to stay beyond 2023.
However, the Ebonyi legislator asked the court to prevail on the defendants to remove constitutional clauses hindering elected presidents and governors from seeking a third term in office.
Daily Trust reported that he is seeking an “order of the court nullifying and setting aside section 137(1)(b) and 182(1) (b) of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999 (as amended) and directing the first and second defendants to delete and expunge sections 137(1)(b) and 182(1)(b) of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, (as amended).”
Already, Aisha Yesufu, the co-convener of the Bring Back of Our Girls BBOG movement has reacted to the ‘talks’ about a ‘possible’ third term for President Buhari.
In a video she shared on her official Twitter page, Yesufu said, ‘Third term for Buhari? I am actually fuming and foaming in the mouth! We cannot be enslaved in our Nation. Let’s have a referendum first!’
The cynicism of the agenda continues to generate more intense debate in shielded voices.
