{"id":67971,"date":"2025-06-13T10:42:57","date_gmt":"2025-06-13T10:42:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/?p=67971"},"modified":"2025-06-13T10:42:57","modified_gmt":"2025-06-13T10:42:57","slug":"tinubu-commends-national-assembly-for-rejecting-obasanjos-third-term-bid","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/2025\/06\/13\/tinubu-commends-national-assembly-for-rejecting-obasanjos-third-term-bid\/","title":{"rendered":"Tinubu Commends National Assembly for Rejecting Obasanjo’s Third-Term Bid"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Omoniyi David<\/strong><\/p>\n

President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has praised the Fifth National Assembly for preserving Nigeria’s democracy by rejecting the third-term bid of former President Olusegun Obasanjo in 2006, describing the move as one that saved the nation’s constitution from being torn apart.<\/p>\n

Tinubu made the remarks on Thursday while addressing a joint session of the National Assembly during a special event marking Democracy Day in Abuja.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is fitting that I come to this chamber. You are the authors of the people’s law, and I must be their faithful implementer. While we may not always agree, we must forge a way to work together because this is what democracy demands of us.<\/p>\n

“I pledge myself to this cooperation and ask that you do the same for the good of our people,\u201d Tinubu said.<\/p>\n

Highlighting pivotal moments in Nigeria’s democratic history, Tinubu commended the legislature for standing firm against constitutional manipulation under the Obasanjo administration.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn 2006, the Fifth National Assembly protected our democracy against an unseemly third-term bid that would have ripped our constitution apart,\u201d the President stated.<\/p>\n

He further applauded the legislature\u2019s decisive role in 2010, when the National Assembly invoked the doctrine of necessity to empower then Vice President Goodluck Jonathan to act as President during the prolonged illness of President Umaru Musa Yar\u2019Adua.<\/p>\n

Tinubu also recalled the National Assembly\u2019s resistance to military rule, citing personal experiences of defiance against General Sani Abacha\u2019s regime.<\/p>\n

\u201cEven under the military, the National Assembly tried to protect our democracy. After General Abacha took over power on November 17, 1993, and dissolved the National Assembly, some of us, led by Senator Ameh Ebute, the Senate President in the Third Republic, defied the General and his goons to reconvene in the Old Parliament Building in Lagos. We were jailed for our defiance,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, former lawmaker Senator Olusola Adeyeye recently disclosed further details about the failed third-term bid.<\/p>\n

In a March interview on Channels Television, Adeyeye alleged that former President Obasanjo attempted to bribe lawmakers with N70 million each to secure their support for the constitutional amendment.<\/p>\n

Adeyeye recounted that he was scheduled to lead a House of Representatives delegation to China at the time but grew suspicious when he realised the trip was orchestrated to remove him from key deliberations.<\/p>\n

\u201cI discovered in Amsterdam, en route to China, that the plan was to ensure I was not present when discussions on the third-term agenda took place,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Adeyeye\u2019s revelations have reignited public discourse on the controversial third-term effort, reinforcing the National Assembly\u2019s historical role in safeguarding Nigeria\u2019s democratic process.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Omoniyi David President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has praised the Fifth National Assembly for preserving Nigeria’s democracy by rejecting the third-term bid of former President Olusegun Obasanjo in 2006, describing the move as one that saved the nation’s constitution from being torn apart. Tinubu made the remarks on Thursday while addressing a joint session of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":33,"featured_media":67972,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[172,186],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-67971","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","category-politics"],"aioseo_notices":[],"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/67971","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/33"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=67971"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/67971\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":67973,"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/67971\/revisions\/67973"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/67972"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=67971"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=67971"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=67971"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}