Recently, nothing has generated more arguments and discussions than the assumed third term ambition of President Olusegun Obasanjo. As a matter of fact whatever the President does today or whatever he left undone will be attributed to the third term plot. If the President does what the country wants, it will be because he wants the third term if he does what we don’t want it will be attributed to the third term agenda. Since the Abacha regime, Nigerians have been agitating for a National Conference. But when the Federal Government set it up it was attributed to third term agenda rather than given it the support it deserved. The long over due constitution review being carried on by the Nigeria parliament was attributed to the third or fourth term agenda. Nigerians requested for a corrupt free leadership but now that ICPC and EFCC are set up they have been given names and even described as tools to hit at political opponents. Nigerians say Atiku is having frictions with the President because he declared his intention to run for the 2007 race and Alamesiygba was arrested for embezzlement and bail skip because he is an Atiku man. Gov Ladoja is said to be facing impeachment today because he is opposed to the third term and even Gen. Marwa was reportedly questioned by EFCC because of his Presidential ambition which runs against the so called third term plan. If Babangida is quizzed today or Buhari is questioned for his activities at PTF, Nigerians will ascribe it to the third term agenda. Perhaps the President should stop fighting crime and stop doing everything to convince Nigerians that he is not running for the third term. President Obasanjo is a man who loves Nigeria more than he loves himself. He believes in constitutionalism and the unity of Nigeria. Having invested so much in the country at the war front, receiving the surrender of the civil war from General Effiong, served as Federal Minister of Works, Chief of Staff Supreme Headquarters, Military Head of State and now a civilian President, I doubt if any other person has served the country longer than him. He has featured more prominently at the national service than any other Nigerian and so Nigerians should know him by now. At the age of 42 in 1979, he laid an unprecedented example by voluntarily handing over to a civilian administration via a free and fair election and retired to his village. If at that time, he was not tempted with the youthful age and the military power to hang on to power like Gowon and Buhari why should he do that now? Nigerians should have known him as a man who will do what he says and keep quiet if you say something he hates or something that annoys him. He talks only when there are reasonable things to say. Apart from this, he is a man who hates to join issue with the press even at the point of provocation. He has once said the chickens at Otta are missing him and the fact that he is preparing for the presidential library indicates his preparation for the final exit from Nigeria public service. The way he is preparing for the library now can be related to the way he prepared to set up Obasanjo Farms for his exit in 1979. Even now, the library has been a subject of criticism and litigation. To buttress my point on his silence and attitude to press created misinformation, I will present one of the three image damaging propaganda created on him by Nigeria press which I witnessed. During the June 12 crisis of 1993/94, I was one of his employees at O.H.L with my office at Abeokuta. One morning, having spoken with him on the phone, I set out to Otta to get his signature for a project to be executed by the company I was managing. On my way, I bought a south western based newspaper at Ita Oshin and the front page headline stated that Obasanjo was in New York “drumming support†for Interim National Government. The newspaper specifically mentioned that Baba met with the Congressional Black Caucus in US, Jimmy Carter and Andrew Young and advised them to accept ING. According to the paper, he was to remain in the US for another one week to complete the consultation. I nearly turned back having read the paper but since I spoke with him about 30 minutes earlier I continued my journey to Otta. After he had signed my paper, Baba jokingly ask me what was in the day’s paper I was holding (he rarely reads dailies) and when he saw the heading on it, he did not make any comment. One of his friends visiting him there advised him to call a press conference and debunk the rumor but he shrugged it off not willing to join issues with the press. To some of us, this incidence caused a lot of dent on his image but he does not care he believes in his conscience and righteousness. I should also mention that this newspaper heading was one of the reasons why pro June 12 demonstrators attacked our office, Agbe Loba House, Abeokuta in 1994 where cars and the building were razed. He is a strong believer in the popular Yoruba saying ile san mi dun joye lo. I can bet it with anything that he will not run for election in 2007 even if the constitution is amended. Do not read unnecessary meaning to his silence, it is golden. Akinyemi Akinlabi Yemak01@aol.com Miami Florida
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