Kalu Insists Obasanjo Planned Third-Term Bid, Denies Former President’s Claims

Abia North Senator, Orji Kalu, has maintained that former President Olusegun Obasanjo personally informed him of a plan to seek a third term in office, dismissing the former president’s recent denial as a “naked lie.”

Speaking on Channels Television’s Politics Today on Wednesday, Kalu alleged that Obasanjo invited him and several governors to the Presidential Villa to discuss amending the constitution to extend his tenure beyond 2007.

“With due respect to President Obasanjo, what he said in Ghana was a naked lie,” Kalu said, referring to Obasanjo’s statement at a Democracy Dialogue in Accra, organised by the Goodluck Jonathan Foundation, where the former president denied ever pursuing a third term.

Kalu claimed that attempts were made to sway lawmakers with money, revealing that Senator Uche Chukwumerije brought N50 million, which was offered to him, but he refused. “Even the National Security Adviser, Nuhu Ribadu, knows Obasanjo was lying,” he added.

The senator said his opposition to the plan caused a rift between him and the former president. “My quarrel with him started when I informed former South African President Thabo Mbeki and former US President George Bush that Obasanjo was pursuing a third term. I even spoke to Nelson Mandela. They all confronted him,” Kalu recounted.

He alleged that Obasanjo had already convinced some governors but insisted that his own stance, grounded in respect for the constitution and his oath of office, helped halt the bid. “The constitution is supreme. Anyone trying to extend their tenure beyond what it allows is inviting the wrath of God,” he said.

Kalu recalled that Obasanjo often cited long-serving leaders like Libya’s Muammar Gaddafi to justify staying in power but stressed that democracy must respect legal term limits.

“Our stand was not personal; it was for the constitution and for democracy. History will remember those who stood against any attempt to undermine it,” he concluded.