Buhari Under Pressure To Change Nigerian Constitution, Run For Third Term – Garba Shehu Says

Presidential spokesman Garba Shehu on Monday said President Muhammadu Buhari recently came under pressure from political influencers to buck constitutional impediments and seek power for a third term — but quickly emphasised that the Nigerian leader spurned the gambit in favour of existing constitutional stipulations on term limits.

“In fact, from 2019, we have seen persuaders come before our very eyes and tell us that leaders should not go; that term limits are a nuisance and should be eliminated,” Mr Shehu said in an appearance on a Channels TV political magazine programme Monday evening.

Mr Shehu did not elaborate on those behind the move, or whether or not the president has enough votes in parliament to push through such a controversial plot. A tenure elongation attempt would have been highly contentious in the country.

However, Mr Shehu, who insinuated that his principal was more democratic than past leaders before him, such as presidents Olusegun Obasanjo and the late Umaru Musa Yar’Adua, said that Mr Buhari was eager to leave office in 2023.

But Buhari wants to make the point that ‘I am not here to stay a day beyond my term of office and be sure there’ll be an election’,” Mr Shehu added.

To further prop up his principal’s purported democratic bona fides, Mr Shehu excoriated Mr Yar’Adua, who took ill for most of his government and ruled while bedridden.

“We have seen people on death beds unwilling to go, and persuaders are saying ‘no, they will keep power until they go to the grave’,” the presidential spokesman said.