THE opposition to the alleged third term plot for President Olusegun Obasanjo got stiffer on Wednesday night with an array of political leaders urging the National Assembly to reject the planned review of the 1999 Constitution.

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The camp was boosted by Vice President Atiku Abubakar who was not only present at their meeting but also vowed to open up a can of worms if "pushed further" by the President.

Abubakar, who spoke with vehemence at the meeting which took place at the Niger State Governor's Lodge at Asokoro in Abuja, also said that the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) had been hijacked from the original founders and was now bereft of democratic ideals.

The vice president, who arrived at the venue at 10.20 p.m., was dressed in a white Kaftan with a white cap accompanied by a retinue of aides.

Speaking after all the dignitaries present, Abubakar commended the organisers of the meeting - members of the National Assembly opposed to the third term agenda. He noted that the presence of eminent Nigerians at the gathering was an attestation to the support for the opposition to the third term agenda.

Reacting to an earlier remark by the former Speaker of the House of Representatives, Alhaji Ghali Umar Na'Abba, that things would get tough for him in the Presidency after the meeting, Abubakar disclosed that the last three years had been traumatic for him in the Presidency, adding that things could not be worse.

He said that the third term plot was real, lamenting that while other African countries such as Ghana, Benin and Niger were deepening their democracies, Nigeria was preoccupied with succession politics.

The Vice President said: "Let me first of all, very very sincerely thank the organisers of this forum for extending this special invitation to me. I also want to use this very occasion I have been given to commend the foresight, the courage, the determination, the commitment of the members of the 2007 Forum."

Abubakar continued: "The presence of all of us here is a clear indication of our solid support for you and for what you believe in, because we believe in the same thing with you. You have absolutely no reason to doubt or to fear because over the last few months, you have seen clearly, in the print media, in the radio, all over that more than 90 per cent of Nigerians are opposed to this agenda."

On the carrot of automatic return reportedly being dangled before the legislators, to secure their support for the alleged third term bid, the Vice President queried: "Why should anybody come to tell you that we will give you automatic ticket? Who will give you a better automatic ticket other than the members of your constituency? Who will give you support on any platform as long as you do what they want and what they expect of you?"

He continued: "For God's sake, most importantly, God is also with you. The Speaker, Ghali Na'Abba, said you should give me your support because he knows what I am going to face. I do not think I am going to face anything more than what I have faced in the last three years."

He added: "On the 25th of August last year, when I granted an interview to the newspapers, I revealed clearly this agenda and my total opposition to it. That was when I was branded a disloyal Vice-President."

The Vice President further said that the PDP had been hijacked and that as far back as last year, he raised an alarm to that effect. Now, Abubakar said, he had been vindicated because the party no longer has internal democracy. The hijack, he said, was to pave way for the execution of a hidden agenda, including the third term.

His words: "The following month, on the 25th of September, at the Yar'Adua Centre, I raised an alarm that the PDP was about to be hijacked so that a particular agenda could be achieved. I was proved right. Hasn't PDP been hijacked? Was there any election? At all levels, there was no election. It was hijacked so that a particular agenda or the party could be used to achieve a particular agenda. It has come to pass. So, what better testimony, what better evidence do we need that this is a real agenda? People are asking: "What next?" he said.

Speaking on the way out of the third term bogey, the Vice President urged the National Assembly to embark on a vigorous campaign among their colleagues, stressing that the Presidency was already worried that it could not yet have the required number to pass a bill to that effect. According to him, so long as the problem of the numerical inferiority remains, the bill will not come to the legislature.

His words: "Look, let us step up this campaign. Let us step up this lobby among other members of the National Assembly. Believe me; they keep on counting the numbers. As long as they realise that they don't have the number, they will never bring the bill. So, let us not relent. Let's keep on persuading; let's keep on campaigning to our brothers and sisters particularly from the South-South, who I understand have only three members in this forum, because as long as the numbers keep on increasing, they will never bring this bill to this National Assembly. I therefore want to use this opportunity to appeal to you to remain steadfast, to remain strong, to give the leadership which history has beckoned you to do. And it is true we also definitely recognise you because as somebody was saying that you are the younger generation, you are starting your political career, you are the people who, in the next 10, 12 or 15 years, will love to become president."

He queried: "Can you imagine? Ghana has stabilised its democratic political succession? Can you imagine, Senegal has stabilised its own democratic political succession? Can you imagine, Benin Republic has done so, Niger has done, Mali has done, Tanzania has done so, Zambia has done so. Nigeria, which is supposed to be the leading light, the leader in this continent, for God sake, being behind. We are still debating on political succession. It is not about North or South, It is about democracy."

He declared further: "Like Speaker Na'Abba said, it is not so. But this North, South divide has been used, Moslem, Christian divide has been used, ethnicity has been used, just for the achievement of an agenda. It is about democracy and stability of our democratic succession and the moment that is stabilised, we become a respected nation, a credible nation, a nation that will give leadership to the whole of Africa and also play a very important role in global affairs".

The vice president further urged the legislators to put behind them divisive forces of ethnicity and religion and come together to fight the battle.

He threatened to open up a lot of secrets if pushed further, saying: "Now, please for God sake, it is time we put all these behind us and move forward which is standard to continue to fight until we achieve this very objective. I want to assure you I am always available and I will give you any support that you need. I will be with you. Look, when I begin to talk, you will know more".

Welcoming the participants to the meeting, the chairman of Movement 2007, Senator Uche Chukwumerije, said the hostility meted out to them in Sheraton Hotel, the first venue of the meeting, was a signal of the desperation of the government to silence opposition despite claims to democracy. He expressed happiness over the report that President Obasanjo had handed over the third term agenda to God but that God is not for immoral projects. Chukwumerije further noted that the meeting was the beginning of militant opposition to the issue of third term.

The Abia State governor, Orji Uzor Kalu, said he would be militant if the third term agenda succeeds. The governor added that Obasanjo would leave office in 2007, whether voluntarily or by compulsion.

He said: "I will be very militant if this third term agenda succeeds. It is going to be dangerous for him and the society. Everybody wants to be president and you cannot chop your own and chop my own. The good news is that they must quit in 2007."

Urging members not to relent, Lagos State Governor Ahmed Bola Tinubu said Nigerians voted for representative government and not imperialism. He also said in pidgin: "You cannot chop your enjoyment and chop that of your children." The Lagos State governor urged the National Assembly not to give up the struggle.

The immediate past chairman of the PDP, Chief Audu Ogbeh, said that the third term agenda is a poisonous pill, which Nigerians should not swallow. He queried: "If your father wants you to be an armed robber so that his old age could be better for him, what would you do? You reject it". Ogbeh also expressed concern that the third term project was being marketed with impunity and urged Nigerians to resist it.

Former Ogun State governor, Chief Olusegun Osoba, was philosophical, noting that the late Chief Moshood Kashimawo Olawale Abiola, an Egba man like himself, died fighting for democracy, while Obasanjo, another Egba man, wanted to die in office.

Osoba said that Nigerians should assist the Egba by saving another Egba man from dying over the Presidency, and that Obasanjo should be pushed home alive and not to come home a dead man.

He said: "Help me to bring Obasanjo home alive by rejecting the third term."

Former Inspector-General of Police, Alhaji Muhammadu Dikko Yusufu, urged the National Assembly to explore two options. The first is to begin impeachment proceedings and the second is to lead the President from the office to his home.

Former Head of State, Maj.-Gen. Muhammadu Buhari, advised the lawmakers to do the bidding of the electorate and not any other person because they might find it difficult to return to their constituencies if they behaved otherwise.

Na'Abba said he had been vindicated but that the right thing to do was to start to think about the alternative to Obasanjo and the coalition should think of a more united force to show that there is an alternative.

The former House of Representatives Speaker appealed to members of the PDP who were being threatened not to worry because there are other platforms now.

A constitutional lawyer and leader of the The Patriots, Professor Ben Nwabueze, said that the Nigerian society and the Igbo race in particular were behind the anti-third term legislators.

He debunked the reported claim by the president of Ohanaeze, Prof. Joe Irukwu, that the Igbo were for the plot.

The Chairman of the Movement for the Restoration and Defence of Democracy (MRDD), Alhaji Muhammadu Gambo-Jimeta, said that democracy in the country was at the crossroads and called on Nigerians to rise to the challenge.

In a swift reaction, the National Publicity Secretary of PDP, John Odey, said the party would meet today to consider the utterances of the Vice President before making public its next line of action. "We have not heard the details of the speech yet but by tomorrow (today), we will meet and discuss the matter before we can give you our reaction. But the party is not worried about anything because our structures are in place', he said.

Also yesterday, the National Chairman of the party, Col. Ahmadu Ali (rtd), and the National Secretary, Chief Ojo Maduekwe, met with the House caucus of the party. Sources close to the meeting told The Guardian that the national chairman told them that the third-term matter was a party decision and that there must continuity.