A former President of South Africa, Thabo Mbeki, has
revealed that a former military Head of State, General Abdulsalami Abubakar,
was instrumental in stopping Olusegun Obasanjo from running for a third term as
President of Nigeria.
Mbeki revealed this when he spoke virtually at the
Abdulsalami Alhaji Abubakar Festschrift Conference held in Abuja on Thursday,
stating that former President Olusegun Obasanjo’s third term bid as President
of Nigeria was fatal for African democracy, The Cable reports.
The second post-apartheid president of South Africa had
engaged Abubakar on the developing situation after he had put a call through to
Obasanjo expressing his displeasure over his proposed bid to change the
constitution.
He said, “As a privilege to reiterate the commitment of
general Abubakar to democracy in Nigeria in 2006, more than five years after he
had handed over powers to Olusegun Obasanjo, the constitution on whose basis
president Obasanjo was elected described a two-term limit for the head of
state, and since he [Obasanjo] had been elected for the second time, this meant
that he would end his term in 2007.
“But some time before, in 2005, a campaign began in Nigeria
to amend the constitution to allow for three presidential terms. This developed
to a point that the draft of the proposed amendment had been presented to the
Nigerian parliament as papers.
“When I heard about this development, I engaged Obasanjo to
communicate my unease at the proposal. In the end, I discussed it with General
Abubakar, and we agreed that the proposed amendment was undesirable.”
Mbeki added he and the former military Head of State were in
agreement and decided to follow the developing situation.
He, however, expressed his delight when he was informed that
the bill was not passed by the Nigerian Senate calling Abubakar, “a defender of
democratic order and the peace and unity of Nigeria, as well as the welfare of
all its people”.
“We shared the view that the amendment must be avoided at
all costs. We were of one mind that it spells bad both for Nigeria and the rest
of the continent, tampering with and compromising our democratic system, which
is just a few years old.
“We agreed to add our voices to those kicking against the
amendment. We agreed that Abdulsalam would follow the situation in Nigeria
closely and indicate to me when we should intervene against the constitutional
amendment. I was very pleased when he called that the Nigerian senate has voted
against the amendment,” Mbeki added.
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