“We Stopped Obasanjo’s Third Term With Help From US President Bush” – Orji Kalu

By Gideon Njoku

The Senator representing Abia North Senatorial District, Orji Uzor Kalu, has, literally, dubbed former President Olusegun Obasanjo a liar.

The Senator spoke on Channels Television’s Politics Today on Wednesday where he responded to Obasanjo’s assertion in Ghana, recently, that he never sought for a third term in office as Nigeria’s President.

Obasanjo who spoke at the Annual Goodluck Jonathan Foundation’s Democracy Dialogue which held in Accra Ghana, said he never went after an extension of his tenure and would have  have gotten it if he so desired.

But speaking  Wednesday night, Kalu put a lie to Obasanjo’s claim.

He said the former President wanted a third term but that a former President of the United States of America, George W. Bush and other world statesmen stood against that, confronted him, and joined those of them who were strongly against it to stop Obasanjo.

He also claimed that Obasanjo, at the time, invited him to the Presidential Villa and told him point blank that he was going for a third term. Orji said that he told Obasanjo that was not possible, and, also, claimed that it was the beginning of his sour relationship with the former President. He mentioned former Senate President, now National Chairman of the African Democratic Congress, ADC, as one of those who know the truth.

Senator Kalu: “With due respect to President Obasanjo, what he said in Ghana was naked lie, naked fallacy. Many people who were part of that period are still alive. David Mark is alive, others are alive. They know the truth.

“Senator Wande brought N50 million which they shared, and they asked me if I would take as a Governor, I said no, go and give it back. Even the National Security Adviser at that time was aware of  what was happening. Obasanjo was at the centre of it all.

“My quarrel with him started when I told President Thabo Mbeki of South Africa and George Bush of the United States that Obasanjo was running for a third term. 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.

“He called me to the Villa and told me he wanted a third term, and I told him ‘no’. That was the beginning of my quarrel with him. I told him it was not possible.  He had already convinced some Governors, but people like me and a few others said no. I am a committed Christian. I took an oath with the Bible to serve only eight years, and that was the end of it.

“He told many Northern Northern Governors too. If those Governors are courageous enough, they will say the truth. He wanted a third term and we stopped him. He was even at loggerheads with Governor Peter Odili over it. The man cannot rewrite history, he wanted a third term.

“That’s why he started having issues with me.

We stopped him with the help of former President Bush.”

At the time of filing this, there has been no response from the former President.

For the records, though, there is no love lost between Obasanjo and Kalu.