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Nigeria: 2007: Battle for Presidency Begins
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This Day (Lagos)
May 18, 2006
Posted to the web May 18, 2006
Bolaji Adebiyi, Collins Edomaruse, Kola Ologbondiyan and Agaju Madugba
Lagos/Abuja/Kaduna
The killing of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999 (Amendment) Bill, 2006 by the Senate on Tuesday has opened the race for the presidency with notable political groups returning to the drawing board to map out strategies for winning the nation's foremost electoral contest in 2007.
The bill which contained a clause seeking to amend section 137 (1) (b) of the constitution to increase the tenure of the President from a maximum of two to three terms of four years each had slowed down the declaration of aspiration by many politicians who would want to run for the nation's topmost job.
The thinking was that it would amount to a waste of time to declare any presidential aspiration when the incumbent, President Olusegun Obasanjo, had shown more than a passing interest in retaining the office.
But with the death of the bill and the subsequent burial of the third term ambition of the President, the coast became clear for aspirants to come to the open and declare their intentions.
Consequently, politicians have started nocturnal meetings aimed at launching their aspirations.
Leading the pack are Vice President Atiku Abubakar and former Heads of State, Gen. Ibrahim Babangida and Maj. Gen. Muhammadu Buhari, who immediately the Senate drove the final nail into the coffin of the third term agenda set up meetings to review the political situation in the country and map out strategies for declaring their presidential ambitions.
THISDAY information has it that the Atiku camp massed in the Advanced Congress of Democrats (ACD) met in Abuja on Tuesday night and Monday morning to review the implications of the killing of the bill and the way forward.
It was also gathered that while the Vice President's meeting was on, a similar one called by the President's men held at the Presidential Villa where the issue of the post 2007 political future of the President as well as what to do with Atiku was given a preliminary discussion.
According to reliable sources, one of the tentative decisions taken was to call an emergency meeting of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) for today to consider a disciplinary action against the Vice President for his role in the killing of the third term agenda.
In the Buhari camp, it was gathered that a meeting of his top aides and associates was held also on Tuesday night in Kaduna where it was decided that the moribund All Nigeria Peoples Party (ANPP) be reorganised to provide a platform for him.
There are also exploratory talks by the Atiku, Babangida and Buhari groups to have a working agreement with the possibility that a joint candidate could eventually come up.
In the South-south, PDP Board of Trustees Chairman, Chief Tony Anenih, is also said to have called for a meeting this weekend with men like Governor Peter Odili of River State on the card.
Members of the Middle Belt Forum have also been contacting each other with former Defence Minister, Lt General T.Y. Danjuma as the rallying point in the hope of getting an acceptable candidate that would come from the region.
But members of the President's economic team are not left out of the calculations as they are believed to be having informal discussions on the possibility of throwing up a candidate or pairing up some members that would continue the reforms.
A meeting of Obasanjo's friends in the business community was also held yesterday in Lagos and hosted by a young business merchant with big stakes in the oil industry with a view to ensuring they backed a candidate for the 2007 race.
As at last night, it was not clear what the governors as a group would come up with.
Meanwhile, the Senate yesterday mandated its Committee on Ethics, Privileges and Public Petitions to investigate the veracity of statements credited to the People's Democratic Party (PDP) national chairman, Chief Ahmadu Ali, on the Hausa Service of the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) allegedly describing senators as "idiots."
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Ali's alleged uncouth statement on the BBC was said to have been contained in his reaction to the decision of the Senate to kill the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999 (Amendment), Bill, 2006.
And as temper rose in the Senate over Ali's outburst former presidential candidate of the All Nigeria Peoples Party (ANPP), Maj-Gen. Muhammadu Buhari (rtd), cautioned Nigerians to be vigilant, saying the defeat of the presidential quest for extra tenure must be seen as the beginning of the battle for the preservation of democracy in the country.
But senators were not in the mood for sermons yesterday as they insisted on cleansing the mud slashed on them by the PDP national chairman.
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