Tobi Soniyi and Musikilu Mojeed, Abuja

The PDP National Chairman, Dr. Ahmadu Ali, was particularly hard on the party's legislators in the National Assembly opposed to the agenda. He said they were deviants who had derailed from the path laid out by the party.

But Vice-President Atiku Abubakar, at another forum, served notice that opponents of the third term bid were in for a long haul.

He said the struggle for democracy and freedom would be long and tortuous.

Speaking in Abuja when a delegation of the Plateau State PDP visited him, Ali described those opposed to the plot as selfish, egocentric and power seeking.

Citing the ordeal of the Deputy President of the Senate, Alhaji Ibrahim Mantu, who is being investigated by the Senate for alleged financial mismanagement and embezzlement, Ali said the PDP would do whatever it takes to stave off his removal.

The PDP chairman argued that Mantu, who was chairman of the defunct National Assembly Joint Committee on the Review of the 1999 Constitution, was being persecuted for his role in the ongoing process of constitution amendment.

He said, Mantu's problem has to do with the constitution review process. But Mantu is carrying out his assignment to the best of his ability and with the support of PDP nationwide. It is unfortunate that some of our members are opposed to the party position on the matter.

They have allowed themselves to be led by the nose. We have a majority in the National Assembly, yet our members have constituted themselves into an opposition.

But that is what happens when you have too many children. Some of them will definitely deviate from the path laid out for them by their parents and behave out of tune.

Mantu is doing his job properly. He is carrying out a delicate assignment and he is doing it very well, so we shall support him. Whatever tribulation he is going through, he will come out unscathed.

We are not worried because some of the allegations are spurious. If a former Deputy Inspector-General of Police (Nuhu Aliyu) does not know his onions, then we are in trouble.

This is the first time that an elected government is trying to produce a constitution. The subterfuge that the opposition and the media have driven Nigeria into is to give the amendment a skewed perspective.

The selfish, egocentric and power-seeking individuals opposed to us decided to label the entire exercise third term agenda.・All we can say to the evil people against constitutional amendment is, Allah ya isa (God will judge).・

Saying those against the third term plot were talking through their ass,・Ali explained that PDP wanted an elongation of President Olusegun Obasanjo's tenure because Nigeria needed somebody who will be there long enough to understand the ropes of governance.

The idea of three terms of four years is appealing, so that we can get a policy of irreversibility of policies right.・

Earlier, the Chairman, Plateau State chapter of the PDP and leader of the delegation, Chief Jethro Akun, urged the party to rally round Mantu and save him from attacks.

Some members of the delegation requested Ali to compel the Minister of Information and National Orientation, Mr. Frank Nweke Jr., to mandate government-owned electronic media to broadcast more messages justifying the third term plot and desist from broadcasting anti-third term reports.

The Vice-President, Abubakar, in Abuja, called on Nigerians people to confront challenges posed by what he described as the difficult political times.・

Speaking at the presentation of the book, Judicial Integrity, Independence and Reforms in Honour of Justice Muhammadu Uwais, the vice-president said the country found itself in a difficult political circumstance as a result of the inability of some of us to appreciate that every modern society, especially complex ones such as ours, have to be rule-driven if they are to survive and thrive.・

Abubakar refrained from making direct attacks on President Obasanjo. But he said, this is not a time for neutrality or sitting on the fence. You either believe that democracy and the rule of law are good and must be secured or you do not.

The price for standing up for the truth and justice may be stiff. But we cannot really call ourselves leaders and civilised citizens if we do not have the courage to uphold the truth and struggle for what is right.

If we allow fear to paralyse us, then we are running away from democracy and freedom. That is not a good option.

Its our current political situation shows, the struggle for democracy and freedom is a long and tortuous one. Those committed to that struggle must prepare for the long haul. And they will continue to require a courageous, independent and impartial judiciary in that struggle.・

He also challenged the judiciary to rise up to the challenges of the time by dispensing justice without fear or favour.

The vice-president added, we will continue to require a strong and independent judiciary as we struggle to build an enduring democracy secured by virile institutions and the rule of law.

A modern democracy without a strong, bold and independent judiciary is a contradiction in terms.

Such a democracy is an empty shell, subject to the whims and caprices of those who wield executive power and, therefore, on a slippery slope towards dictatorship.・

He pointed out that where the laws failed or those in power disregarded the law, people would take the law into their hands and anarchy would reign.

We must collectively struggle to prevent that fate from befalling our country. We are too important a people and too important a country to Africa and the world to let that happen. Posterity will never forgive us if we do,・he added.

Uwais, in his response, praised the authors of the book.

THE PUNCH, Friday April 28, 2006