Former President of Nigeria, Olusegun Obasanjo has denied allegations claiming he sought to have third term just before his second term in office as a democratically elected President ended in 2007.

Speaking at the Democracy Dialogue organised by the Goodluck Jonathan Foundation in Accra, Ghana, Obasanjo said there is no Nigerian, dead or alive, who can truthfully claim he solicited support for a third term agenda.

“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,” he said

Obasanjo argued that he had proven his ability to secure difficult national goals, citing Nigeria’s debt relief during his administration as a much greater challenge than any third term ambition.

“I keep telling them that if I could get debt relief, which was more difficult than getting a third term, then if I wanted a third term, I would have got it too,” he said.Nigerian beauty

He further cautioned against leaders who overstay in power, stressing that the belief in one’s indispensability is a “sin against God.”

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The African Democratic Congress in Gombe State on Friday evening launched a membership enrolment drive aimed at strengthening its electoral fortunes ahead of the 2027 general elections.

Speaking at the inauguration of the State Transition and Membership Drive Committee, the Gombe State Chairman of the ADC, Auwal Barde, said the party was working assiduously to rescue both the state and the country.

Barde said, “ADC is here to ensure development across the board. We call on residents of Gombe to join the party to make the Nigeria and the state we yearn for possible.”

On his part, a former Minister of Transportation, Abdullahi Umar, refuted claims that the party was divided, insisting that the ADC remained one big family.

He said, “Today, we constituted a committee to drive membership across the state. They will be going to the grassroots, and this will be a continuous exercise. We are confident that in the next couple of months, we should be bringing in 500,000 members.”

Umar explained that disagreements were normal in politics but stressed that the party had mechanisms to resolve conflicts.

“In politics, divisions are bound to happen. But as a party, congresses were conducted, and although we were not in the party then, the issues were resolved in 2024, which brought back Auwal Barde as chairman.

“This was affirmed by the national executive of the party. So, there is no dispute—people should return to their positions,” he added.

He also urged members to take part in the Independent National Electoral Commission’s ongoing Continuous Voter Registration, stressing that the Permanent Voter Card remains the most powerful tool in choosing leaders.

“Collection of PVCs is very important. It will give you the opportunity to decide who should represent you at different levels of government,” he said.

In his remarks, the Chairman of the State Transition and Membership Drive Committee, John Yoriyo, assured that the committee would not only focus on ADC membership registration but also encourage residents to participate in the ongoing CVR.

“We will encourage residents to register and collect their PVCs, and we will also market ADC to the grassroots,” Yoriyo said.

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Peoples Democratic Party chieftain, Dan Ulasi, has said he would welcome the return of former Labour Party presidential candidate, Peter Obi, to the PDP ahead of the 2027 general election.

Speaking on Arise Television on Friday, Ulasi argued that Obi’s credibility and popularity would strengthen the party’s chances.

“I’ll be happy if he joins PDP because he will bring his credibility to bear on the party as we are reorganising. Any party that has him today will know they already have more than 30 to 40 per cent of the election because he has tremendous support across this country,” he said.

Ulasi added that Obi’s political future remained uncertain.

“To the best of my knowledge, Peter Obi has no platform. He ran last time with Labour Party, he has attended the launching of ADC. I don’t know what his platform will be,” he noted.

On zoning, Ulasi called for fairness in selecting the 2027 ticket. He said the PDP has zoned the presidency to the South and urged that it be “micro-zoned” especially to the South-East, which he argued is the only region that has not yet produced a Nigerian president.

“If there is honesty, they should micro-zone it to the South-East because virtually now we are the only zone, theoretically speaking, that has not had a presidency,” he said.

“In the last national executive meeting we had, almost seven of our governors were there. It was refreshing that everybody is now talking about how to reorganise the party and put it on a stronger footing for 2027 and other elections,” he added.

Obi, who served as Governor of Anambra State between 2006 and 2014, was the PDP’s vice-presidential candidate in 2019.

He defected from the party in May 2022 after withdrawing from its presidential primary and later emerged as the Labour Party’s candidate.

His campaign, popularly known as the “Obidient Movement,” galvanised significant youth support and disrupted the traditional two-party contest in the 2023 elections, where he finished third behind Bola Tinubu of the All Progressives Congress and Atiku Abubakar of the PDP.

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