By Daniel Oluwatobiloba Popoola
Former House of Representatives Minority Leader, Farouk Aliyu, has alleged that he was offered N250 million in 2006 to support former President Olusegun Obasanjo’s controversial third-term agenda, insisting that he declined the offer.
Aliyu made the allegation during an interview on the Naija Unfiltered Podcast, where he recounted his experience as a member of the House of Representatives during the debate over a proposed constitutional amendment that could have allowed Obasanjo to seek a third consecutive term.
He explained that the alleged offer followed a phone call from the then Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, Nuhu Ribadu, who invited him to Abuja for a meeting with Obasanjo.
According to him, he initially refused to honour the invitation but later travelled to Abuja after Ribadu appealed to him as a friend, where he subsequently met an unnamed individual who offered him N250 million in exchange for his support for the third-term project.
“Third term was real. In fact, N250 million was given to me. I didn’t take it,” he said.
Aliyu disclosed that the offer made to him formed part of a wider attempt to secure the backing of lawmakers for the proposed constitutional amendment, alleging that other principal officers of the House were similarly approached with larger sums.
“Masari, who was Speaker then, 500 million naira was given. He didn’t take. Abdul Ningi, Majority Leader, was given 400 million. He didn’t take. And N50 million was just dashed to small, small fries,” he alleged.
The former lawmaker further disclosed that Ribadu had informed him that Obasanjo was willing to meet him personally following efforts to persuade him to support the proposal, a meeting he said he attended despite his reservations.
“I came back to Abuja to discuss the third term, and I told them it won’t fly,” he said.
Aliyu maintained that he stood firmly against the third-term agenda and rejected the alleged financial inducement throughout the process.
The National Assembly eventually rejected the proposed constitutional amendments in May 2006, effectively ending the effort to extend Obasanjo’s tenure beyond 2007.
In September 2025, Obasanjo had rejected the longstanding claim of pursuing a third term, insisting that no Nigerian, living or dead, could truthfully say he ever expressed such an intention to them.
