21/09/2025
𝐈𝐟 𝐈 𝐰𝐚𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐝 𝐚 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐫𝐝 𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐦, 𝐈 𝐤𝐧𝐨𝐰 𝐡𝐨𝐰 𝐭𝐨 𝐠𝐨 𝐚𝐛𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐢𝐭. 𝐍𝐨 𝐍𝐢𝐠𝐞𝐫𝐢𝐚𝐧, 𝐝𝐞𝐚𝐝 𝐨𝐫 𝐚𝐥𝐢𝐯𝐞, 𝐜𝐚𝐧 𝐬𝐚𝐲 𝐈 𝐜𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐞𝐝 𝐡𝐢𝐦 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐚 𝟑𝐫𝐝 𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐦 - 𝐎𝐥𝐮𝐬𝐞𝐠𝐮𝐧 𝐎𝐛𝐚𝐬𝐚𝐧𝐣𝐨
Former President Olusegun Obasanjo has dismissed claims that he once tried to extend his stay in power beyond two terms, saying he never planned or asked for a third term.
Obasanjo spoke on Wednesday at the Democracy Dialogue organised by the Goodluck Jonathan Foundation in Accra, Ghana. He described the claims as baseless.
“I’m not a fool. If I wanted a third term, I know how to go about it. And there is no Nigerian dead or alive that would say I called him and told him I wanted a third term,” Obasanjo said.
The former president argued that negotiating debt relief for Nigeria during his administration was a bigger challenge than securing a third term.
“If I wanted to get debt relief, which is more difficult than getting a third term, and I got it, if I wanted a third term, I would have got it too,” he added.
Obasanjo also warned leaders against holding on to power at all costs. According to him, such behaviour is driven by a false belief that they are indispensable.
“I know that the best is done when you are young, ideal, vibrant and dynamic. When you are ‘kuje kuje’ you don’t have the best. But some people believe that unless they are there, nobody else,” he said.
He added, “They will even tell you that they haven’t got anybody else. I believe that that is a sin against God, because if God takes you away, which God can do anytime, then somebody else will come, and that somebody else may do better or may do worse.”