President Muhammadu Buhari recently came under pressure from political influencers to buck constitutional impediments and seek power for a third term, presidential spokesman Garba Shehu has said.
It was learnt that Shehu quickly emphasised that the president reacted in favour of existing constitutional stipulations on term limits.
Shehu said:
In fact, from 2019, we have seen persuaders come before our very eyes and tell us that leaders should not go; that term limits are a nuisance and should be eliminated.
However, Shehu did not elaborate on those behind the move, or whether or not the president has enough votes in parliament to push through such a controversial plot. A tenure elongation attempt would have been highly contentious in the country.
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Shehu, who insinuated that his principal was more democratic than past leaders before him, such as presidents Olusegun Obasanjo and the late Umaru Musa Yar’Adua, said that Buhari was eager to leave office in 2023.
Shehu added:
But Buhari wants to make the point that ‘I am not here to stay a day beyond my term of office and be sure there’ll be an election’.
Shehu criticised Yar’Adua, who took ill for most of his government and ruled while bedridden, in an effort further to prop up his principal’s purported democratic bona fides.
The presidential spokesman said:
We have seen people on death beds unwilling to go, and persuaders are saying ‘no, they will keep power until they go to the grave.’
During this period, Yar’Adua’s handlers resisted handing over to then-Vice President, Goodluck Jonathan; a development that ignited protests as Nigerians called for Mr Yar’Adua to be declared incapacitated and power transferred to Jonathan.
Yar’Adua died in 2010, paving the way for Mr Jonathan to be president.
Also, Olusegun Obasanjo, a two-term president, who served between 1999 and 2003, was rumoured to have attempted a failed manipulation of the Constitution to get his tenure elongated.
