By AYO FALODUN

In a press statement by its spokesman, Alhaji Lai Mohammed in Lagos yesterday, ACD argued that the New York Times editorial had vindicated its position and those of prominent Nigerians from all walks of life condemning the said third term agenda.

Against this background, ACD calls on President Bush to convey the position of the American people as expressed by the New York Times to President Obasanjo when he visits Washington DC this week as the success of the third term plot will not only worsen the crisis in the Niger Delta but will also spell doom for Nigeria as a nation with its attendant consequences for the West African sub-region.・br>
The party pointed out that the same argument being advanced today in favour of perpetuating President Obasanjo in office were the same ones used to justify Yakubu Gowon's stay in the 1970s that, that there is need for continuity and consolidation of policies for the unity of Nigeria or that he is the only one who could rule Nigeria and avert chaos.

The prime mission of the pro-third term sycophants is simply to entrench autocracy in the Nigerian constitution and dress it in democratic garb.

Even if the records of President Obasanjo in office in the last seven years is excellent, a claim only those in third term camp can make, he still has a moral and civic obligation to leave office in May 2007. What Nigeria needs is not a country of one wise man who has the solutions to all our problems and without whom the sun will not rise but a country of strongly established structures and institutions.