Obasanjo’s third term bid: Momoh, Oshiomhole hail late Dokpesi’s role

Former Edo State Governor, Senator Adams Oshiomhole, and the Minister of Regional Development, Abubakar Momoh, have lauded the late founder of DAAR Communications, Raymond Dokpesi, for his pivotal role in thwarting former President Olusegun Obasanjo’s alleged third-term agenda in 2006.

The duo made the remarks on Saturday at the second Raymond Dokpesi Diamond Lecture organised by the Nigerian Institute of Public Relations (NIPR) in Abuja.

Both described Dokpesi as a patriot who leveraged his influence and media platforms to safeguard Nigeria’s democracy and support emerging political leaders.

“It will take a very long time for us to forget all the things that he did. He supported so many of us from Edo State, because he was also from the State,” Momoh said in his goodwill message. “Even when I had political challenges in the 2019 election, his television station was placed for me to air all my activities free of charge.”

Momoh revealed that Dokpesi had personally reached out to lawmakers to resist Obasanjo’s controversial constitutional amendment.

“This is the man that should be credited for stopping it,” he said. “He called me and said, ‘You are my brother; make sure you work with your people to ensure that the Third Term Agenda does not succeed.’ Apart from using the AIT station, he was calling people one after the other to let them know it must not be supported.”

He recalled that Dokpesi once told him he would become a Minister someday—a dream he said has now come true.

Senator Oshiomhole also praised Dokpesi for using AIT to give a voice to ordinary Nigerians.

“Dokpesi’s station truly lived up to the name ‘Africa Independent Television.’ It gave opportunity for non-state actors to put their case, as well as state operators to respond,” he said.

“Even when the regulator threatened to withdraw their licence for allowing a smallish man like me to ‘trouble a big man from Ota,’ he stood firm. He used his station to promote national conversation but never to run down his country,” Oshiomhole added.

He commended AIT’s live coverage of the National Assembly debates during the third-term controversy, saying it ensured transparency and public accountability.

“When senators and Reps stood up to talk, they knew their constituents would hold them accountable. If we talk about using media to promote national interest, Dokpesi was there,” he said.

However, Oshiomhole lamented that Dokpesi’s generosity was not always appreciated by the political class. “My only complaint to him, which I was able to make before he passed, was that he made the station available for a political party that didn’t reciprocate in the manner I thought it should,” he said. “For me, we have lost a statesman in Edo State, one who supported people based on merit.”

Their tributes came amid renewed debate over Obasanjo’s alleged third-term ambition, following recent remarks by political activist Dr. Usman Bugaje, who maintained that the former president “did everything within his power” to seek tenure extension.

Obasanjo has denied the claim, saying, “I’m not a fool. If I wanted a third term, I know how to go about it.”
Bugaje, however, insisted that lawmakers were “threatened and offered money” to amend the 1999 Constitution to allow three consecutive presidential terms.

The controversial amendment was ultimately rejected in 2006 after stiff resistance from civil society groups, opposition politicians, and several lawmakers within the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).

Former Senate President Adolphus Wabara also revealed that he turned down a ₦250 million bribe offered to support the move. “That’s very correct,” Wabara said in an interview published in January 2024.

Similarly, former Vice President Atiku Abubakar said his close relationship with lawmakers at the time helped derail Obasanjo’s third-term plan.

Dokpesi, founder of Africa Independent Television (AIT) and Raypower FM, was widely regarded as one of the key figures who mobilised public opposition to the third-term agenda through his media platforms before his death in May 2023.