Senator Orji Uzor Kalu, representing Abia North, has accused former President Olusegun Obasanjo of lying about never seeking a third term in office, insisting that the former president personally discussed the plan with him while in power.
Obasanjo, speaking at the Goodluck Jonathan Foundation’s Democracy Dialogue in Accra, Ghana, last month, dismissed long-standing claims that he had pushed for a constitutional amendment to enable him to remain in office beyond 2007.
“There is no Nigerian dead or alive that would say I called him and told him I wanted a third term. I’m not a fool. If I wanted a third term, I know how to go about it,” Obasanjo said at the event.
But Kalu, appearing on Channels Television’s Politics Today on Wednesday, refuted the former president’s statement and described it as “a naked lie.”
“With due respect to President Obasanjo, what he said in Ghana was a naked lie, a naked fallacy,” Kalu stated. “Many people who were part of that period are still alive, David Mark is alive, others are alive. They know the truth.”
The former Abia State governor claimed that Obasanjo had invited him to the Presidential Villa during his administration to discuss amending the 1999 Constitution to accommodate a third term.
“He invited me to the Villa and told me about the third term,” Kalu said. “Senator Uche Chukwumerije brought ₦50 million, which they shared, and they asked me if I would take as a governor. I said no, go and give it back.
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“Even the then National Security Adviser, Nuhu Ribadu, knows Obasanjo was lying; he was at the centre of it all.”
How my rift with Obasanjo started – Kalu
Kalu said his disagreement with the former president began after he opposed the move and informed several world leaders about the alleged plot.
“My quarrel with him started when I told Presidents Thabo Mbeki of South Africa and George Bush of the United States that Obasanjo was running for a third term,” he explained. “I even told Nelson Mandela, may his soul rest in peace. They all confronted him. I don’t know why Nigeria should be built on lies by statesmen.”
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The former governor further alleged that while Obasanjo had persuaded some state governors to support the proposed amendment, he and a few others resisted the pressure.
“He had already convinced some governors, but people like me and a few others said no,” Kalu said. “I am a committed Christian. I took an oath with the Bible to serve for only eight years, and that was the end of it.”
Kalu’s remarks revive one of Nigeria’s most controversial political debates, the alleged third-term agenda of the Obasanjo administration, which dominated national discourse in the mid-2000s but was eventually defeated in the National Assembly in 2006.
Rafiyat Sadiq is a political, justice, and human rights reporter with Pinnacle Daily, known for fearless reporting and impactful storytelling. At Pinnacle Daily, she brings clarity and depth to issues shaping governance, democracy, and the protection of citizens’ rights.
