National Assembly Will Give Buhari Third Term If… – Wabara

Former Senate President Adolphus Wabara has said that the present National Assembly will give a third term to President Muhammadu Buhari if he desires it.

Senator Wabara spoke just as his successor as Senate President, Senator Ken Nnamani, on Thursday revealed how he aborted former President Olusegun Obasanjo’s hatched third term agenda.

Opening up during the official launch of his book, “Standing strong: Legislative reforms, third term and other issues of the 5th Senate”, Ken Nnamani now a chieftain of the All Progressives Congress (APC) claimed that his model of legislation was shaped by the debate about whether the legislator is an agent or a trustee.

According to him he penned down the book with the intention of giving a true reflection of the story that led to the killing of the Third Term Constitution amendment.

According to him, “during the debate on the Third Term Bid of President Obasanjo, I weighed these two competing concepts of the role of a legislator. I decided to marry the two concepts. I wanted Senators to vote their mind on the question of whether to amend the constitution to allow President Obasanjo a Third Term.

“I also wanted them to effectively represent the views of their constituents. To be an informed trustee, the Senators needed to understand the views of their constituents before casting their votes. On this basis, the Senate adjourned to allow Senators to consult with their constituents about the constitutional amendment.

“To ensure that Nigerians saw how their representatives were responding to the most important question of democracy, the Senate decided to televise its proceedings. Publicizing the proceedings was faulted by those who wanted to smuggle into the constitution the extension of tenure through undefined and darkly proceedings.

“They knew that if we isolate Nigerians from the proceedings and therefore reduce public pressure on the legislators it could be possible to ram through with their agenda. But I stood strong. The principal officers of the National Assembly stood strong. We overcame this 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 ultimately secured our democracy.

“The degree of public interest the debate generated owed largely to the decision to televise our deliberations. This was about the origin of the now institutionalized use of television to publicize the proceedings of the National Assembly. The publicity of the proceedings made legislators to sit up and take seriously the art of law-making. No one wanted to be caught on camera either sleeping or making disjointed statements.

President Buhari who played a key role in mobilizing against the third term amendment in his remarks sent through Vice-president Yemi Osinbajo lauded Senator Nnamani’s role in building the nation as he assured that his government will not waver in its fight against insecurity.

Chairman of the occasion and former minister of defence, General Theophilus Y. Danjuma, commended the book for the nation’s prospective leaders saying:

“In my own personal opinion this is a text book for all young men and women who want to run a difficult country like Nigeria. I recommend the book as a must buy for every aspiring leader.”

Senator Wabara who was succeeded by Nnamani as Senate President in his opening remarks raged against the present security architecture in the country saying it was lopsided.

Noting the fact that Senator Nnamani was chairman of the Senate Committee on Federal Character, he charged him to prevail on his new party, APC to address the imbalances in the country.

While nevertheless lauding Buhari’s respect for term limits, he said that the president National Assembly would have given a third term to President Buhari if he so desired.

“You have to make sure that the country remains democratic and we must thank Buhari for not nursing ambition for a third term. I doff my hat for him. If he wanted an amendment of the constitution to extend his tenure, I am sure this current National Assembly will grant it, keep standing strong,” he said.

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