“The publicising of the proceedings made lawmakers to sit up and take the act of law-making, because no one wants to be caught on camera…….”
The former Senate President, Ken Nnamani, has revealed some of the steps he took to abort the tenure elongation agenda (otherwise known as Third Term) of former President Olusegun Obasanjo. Mr Nnamani, while speaking at the public presentation of his book: “STANDING STRONG: Legislative Reforms, Third Term and Other Issues of the 5th Senate,” at the International Conference Centre, Abuja, on Thursday, said by adjourning the senate in the course of the constitutional amendment process, some senators in support of the bill had a change of mind after interacting with their constituents.
Mr Nnamani, who represented Enugu East Senatorial District on the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), was senate president between 2005 and 2007.
It was during his tenure that Mr Obasanjo, in 2006, sought to extend his tenure beyond the constitutionally-allowed two terms of four years each in 2006. The former president, who was also the country’s military ruler between 1976 and 1979, wanted the National Assembly to amend the 1999 Constitution to enable him prolong his stay in office.
The move generated tension in the land at the time. Mr Obasanjo has repeatedly denied he had a plan to spend another four years in office.
“If I wanted a third term, I know how to go about it. And there is nothing I wanted that God has not given me,” he told Channels Television in 2012.
But narrating how the third term agenda was killed,
Mr Nnamani said, “I wanted senators to vote with their mind on the question of whether we should amend the constitution to allow President Obasanjo a third term. I also wanted their votes to represent the views of their constituents.
“To be an informed trustee, the senators need to understand the view of their constituents before casting their votes. On this basis, the senate adjourned to allow the senators to consult with their constituents about the constitution amendment.
With this intervention, some senators returned with enlightened views,” he said.
Mr Nnamani further disclosed that the live transmission of the plenary on May 16, 2006, when an alteration of the constitution to allow three terms for Nigeria’s presidents, forced some senators to abandon support for the bill seeking a third term for Mr Obasanjo. He said forces within the government tried to stop the televised proceedings to prevent Nigerians from following the process. “We decided to televise the proceedings.
Publicising the proceedings was not supported by those who wanted to smuggle into the Constitution the extension of tenure through undefined and darkened procedure,” the former senate president, who is currently a member of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), said. “They knew that if we had sidelined Nigerians from the proceedings, and therefore reduced public pressure on the legislature, it would be possible to ram through, but I stood strong. “We overcame intense pressure even from the highest level of government. We continued to broadcast the proceedings. The result of the publicity and openness was that we secured our democracy.
“The degree of public interest the debate generated owed largely to the decision to televise our proceedings. This was the origin of the now institutionalised used television to publicise proceedings of the National Assembly.
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The publicising of the proceedings made lawmakers to seat up and take the act of law-making, because no one wants to be caught on camera, either sleeping.”
KEN NNAMANI: HOW WE ABORTED OBJ’S ‘THIRD TERM’ BY DARE ADELEKAN
