Ex-Senator Alleges N70 Million Bribery Plot in Obasanjo’s Failed Third-Term Bid

The former Senator Olusola Adeyeye has claimed that lawmakers were offered N70 million each to support former President Olusegun Obasanjo’s controversial third-term bid.

Speaking on Sunday Politics, a Channels TV program, Adeyeye alleged that apart from himself, all senators and house of representatives members from Osun State accepted the bribe.

The third-term agenda, which aimed to amend the 1999 Constitution and extend Obasanjo’s presidency by another four years, was ultimately rejected by the National Assembly in 2006. However, behind the scenes, intense lobbying and alleged financial inducements were at play, Adeyeye claimed.

“I was the one who broke the news,” he said. “I had given two press conferences, but newspapers did not take it seriously.”

The former lawmaker recounted a pivotal meeting where he first heard of the bribery attempt.

“We were in a hall, and it was so full that the barriers had to be moved. I mentioned that I heard the presidency planned to offer each of us N50 million. A principal officer corrected me and said, ‘No, it’s N70 million.’ That was in 2006.”

Realizing the potential impact of such an offer, Adeyeye said he urged stakeholders—press, labor unions, and academia—to raise alarm and resist Obasanjo’s bid.

Following his press conference in Osogbo, Adeyeye revealed that his house, as well as those of his colleagues, were raided.

“People thought we had already taken the money. I never said we were given money. I said money would be given. And was it given? Oh yes. Many even fought over it,” he stated.

Adeyeye claimed he was the only legislator from Osun State who rejected the alleged bribe, a decision that put his life in danger.

“I suffered more than any Nigerian legislator because of the third term. I couldn’t live in my house for two years. I escaped five assassination attempts,” he recounted.

To stay alive, Adeyeye took drastic measures.

“I hid in the houses of five different friends at different times. Thanks to Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, who advised me on how to stay safe,” he said.

According to him, Tinubu suggested a strategy involving multiple used cars of different colors and models to confuse potential attackers.

“I would park one car at a friend’s house, arrive in another, and leave in a completely different one, all with the windows rolled up. That’s how I managed to stay alive,” Adeyeye explained.

Adeyeye also expressed disappointment over the deteriorating relationship between President Tinubu and former Osun governor Rauf Aregbesola.

“It makes me sad that things are not working out between Aregbesola and Tinubu. They were so close,” he said, recalling a moment when Tinubu once declared, ‘If you see me sleeping and you see Rauf coming with a dagger, don’t wake me up. He would never harm me.’