Governors of the five states controlled by the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) had met with President Olusegun Obasanjo alongside legislators from the zone on Tuesday night at the Presidential Villa, Abuja, to dissect the third term agenda.

The president had mandated the governors to meet with their legislators and ensure that they were convinced on the agenda. The main charge given the governors was the need to win the hearts of the 31 members of the House of Representatives who are members of the Alliance for Democracy (AD).

The AD has 31 members in the House of Representatives and five in the Senate. The governors at the Apo Quarters specifically targeted the homes of AD lawmakers. Some of the AD lawmakers were invited to dinner and a breakfast meeting on Wednesday and Thursday in the houses of their PDP colleagues.

The governors were joined by the Deputy National Chairman (South) of the PDP, Chief Olabode George, in the house-to-house campaign. The lobby was, however, done on a state by state level, with Governor Adebayo Alao-Akala leading the Oyo lobby team. The governor had to stay back in Abuja till late Thursday as a particular influential AD lawmaker was said to have proved difficult.

But Lagos State governor, Bola Tinubu, caused a stir in Abuja when his emissaries also stormed the legislative quarters to insist that the AD legislators resist the third term campaigners. Tinubu’s men also went from house to house, telling the lawmakers that it would be wrong of them to adopt the plot as it would prove dangerous to the South West region zone.

The meeting of Ogun and Osun legislators with their governors also discussed the need to explore all avenues to win over the AD legislators.
Meanwhile, the Senate will on Wednesday commence debate on the constitution amendment bill which contains the controversial third term bill.

Senate President, Chief Ken Nnamani, who made the announcement at the National Assembly on Thursday, said that the senators would commence debate on the bill next week. The Senate, which resumed sitting and sat for only five minutes after the joint sitting to receive the visiting Chinese President, Hu Jintao, said all was set for the all-important debate.

The Senate had passed the bill through the first reading last week but further debate on it, which was expected to resume this week, was rescheduled for next Tuesday before the Senate eventually settled for Wednesday.

Attempts by the Senate bureaucracy to correct the omission of the clause that approved a third term in office for governors by publishing another National Assembly journal to accommodate the clause were rebuffed on Tuesday as anti-third term lawmakers alleged that the clause was being smuggled into the bill.

The move, which was discovered when some chamber aides were distributing the new National Assembly journal containing the fresh amendment, threw the Senate into commotion.