Senator Udoma Udo Udoma, (Nigeria's Senate Chief Whip) on why "in good conscience" he cannot support the  retired general Olusegun  Obasanjo's controversial and thus far unconstitutional quest to seek a third term of office as Nigeria's president (ruling since 1999). It is titled 'Why I am against third term amendment provision':

"Following my decision not to support the proposal to amend the constitution to allow the President and state governors to be able to run for a third term, I have been contacted by one or two well-meaning friends who asked me the reason for my decision.  In particular, they asked me how I reconcile my strong support for the Obasanjo administration's economic programmes and policies and my reluctance to support an amendment that could allow the President four more years to continue these programmes.

I wish to make it clear that there is no conflict at all.

Indeed, it is dangerous to allow one's support for Chief Olusegun Obasanjo to determine whether it is in the national interest for the President and state governors to be allowed three terms in office, as opposed to the current two term provision.

One of the fundamental principles of lawmaking is that laws should not be made for the benefit of a particular individual. Even if we pass the amendment and the President decides to contest, which decision, we understand, he is yet to make, all we would have achieved is a maximum of four more years for Chief Olusegun Obasanjo. But at what price? His successor will be able to rule Nigeria for twelve unbroken years!

A period long enough to enable such a President to entrench himself, and using the precedent already established, supported by the powers of incumbency, to even contemplate doing away completely with term limits - a common enough occurrence in Africa.

Term limits are critical to building and sustaining democracy. It is generally accepted that the powers of incumbency, particularly in emerging democracies, are so overwhelming that there cannot be a level playing field where any person challenges an incumbent with executive power.

It is for this reason that the framers of the 1979 Constitution set a two term limit for incumbents holding executive offices. This was retained in all subsequent Constitutions, including the current one, the 1999 Constitution.

To permit the power of incumbency to be used to extend term limits, by constitutional amendment, is to undermine the very purpose of the term limit. Why have a term limit when it can be extended any time it is considered inconvenient for an incumbent!

In addition, the third term debate has led to such mistrust of informal political understandings and amendments that there is now a clamour for the principle of rotation, which had hitherto been left to informal agreements within political parties, to be entrenched in the Constitution. As a consequence, if the third term amendment which allows 12 years for each President is passed into law, the earliest a person from the South-South political zone can constitutionally aspire to be President of Nigeria will be in 16 years time - and possibly 40 years time, if the South-East gets the Presidency first. For the South-West, it's even worse. If the third term amendment is passed, no person from the South-West can be eligible to contest for the Presidency of this country, after Obasanjo, for 60 years! All this just to secure a possible four more years for Obasanjo!"

Finally, all those persons in the private sector who are anxious to see the continuation of the private sector friendly policies of Chief Olusegun Obasanjo's administration should remember the words the French Emperor, Napoleon 1 uttered from bitter experience in 1815,"Men are powerless to secure the future; institutions alone fix the destiny of nations." 

Udoma, born in 1954, is a lawyer and represents Akwa Ibom South in the Senate.

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At 26, Woods has since become the youngest golfer to win his seventh professional major championship. He was joined by his parents and his 22 year-old Swedish model girlfriend, Elin Nordegren. Impeachment process shows Nigerian democracy "is alive... being tested." Nigeria's president retired Gen. Olusegun Obasanjo has said that the impeachment process shows that "democracy is alive, is being tested, and being tried.... What they (the legislators) have tried to do in the democratic way, which is not easy, would probably have been done by taking arms or by -- with bullets. So, but with democracy, of course, some people feel that this is the way this should be, and then I have an opportunity to defend myself. There is discussion. There is dialogue. There is a decision. There is fairness." He made these comments when he appeared on Tuesday September 17, 2002 on CNN International to discuss the issues of impeachment facing him, the allegations of corruption, abuse of the constitution and deployment of soldiers ina civilian environment which led to the "massacre of civilians" in Odi (Bayelsa) and Zaki Biam (Benue). On the charges by international human rights organizations and Nigerian media that his government has been involved in actions which have led to the deaths of thousands of Nigerians, the retired General gave a surprising answer. He was asked that "as many as 10,000 people, it's being reported, have been killed in Nigeria (in) communal rivalries, and the number is believed to be increasing. And people are saying that although President Obasanjo has done a lot of good for Nigeria, you're accused of not -- accused of failing to halt that spiraling violence." Obasanjo: Let me say this to you, when you put the question of 10,000 -- 10,000 people dying in Nigeria, of course, for a population of over 120 million people...." But USAfricaonline.com Founder and recipient of the Journalism Excellence award (1997), Chido Nwangwu, who appeared on the same program as as a CNN International analyst (Africa) pointed out that "when (President Obasanjo) answered that in a country of 100 million that 10,000 people are said to have died, as if that was a small number, that in itself reflects a disconnect with the concerns of Nigerians. The second one is that when the risk is civil disagreement, the police are required to intervene in the country. And the deployment of the armed forces of Nigeria requires at least some consultation, however modest, with the parliament." Nwangwu, former member of the editorial board of Nigeria's Daily Times continued that "the third factor that is equally important to underscore is that the armed forces of Nigeria moved in for a punitive action rather than just containing a civil disagreement." He noted in USAfricaonline.com backgrounder "it was revealing and interesting interesting discussing Nigeria's issues with its leader - under the current circumstances of an increasingly out-of-schedule elections and the gathering storm of an impeachment process by a majority of the members of the National Assembly, predominantly by Obasanjo's party members." See rush transcript of the CNN International news program. Obasanjo facing corruption and ineptitude impeachment charges, again since the parliament, a few weeks ago, passed a motion carrying a majority of the members of Obasanjo's party, the PDP. 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