OBASANJO APPROACHED BUSH FOR SUPPORT ON THIRD TERM-CONDOLEEZA RICE

Written by Naija Pundit on 26 November 2011.

Immediate past U.S. Secretary of State and former U.S. National Security Adviser, Condoleeza Rice, has sensationally revealed in page 638 of her new book ‘No Higher Honour: A Memoir of My Years in Washington’ that former President Obasanjo, despite his oft repeated denial, did in fact want a third term and had approached former U.S. President Bush to seek his support for altering the Nigerian Constitution to enable him achieve his aim.

According to Miss Rice, “In 2006, when President Olusegun Obasanjo of Nigeria sidled up to the President [Bush] and suggested that he might change the constitution so that he could serve a third term, the President told him not to do it. ‘You have served your country well. Now turn over power and become a statesman,’” he said.

After a public rebuke from the United States and condemnation of his effort by the international community, the Nigerian Senate rejected the constitution amendment proposal that could have allowed Obasanjo to serve a third term.

The crestfallen Obasanjo was initially angry, accusing Jendayi Fraser of undermining him in the press and with his own people. “I will never deal with her again,” he told the President.

The President [Bush] responded, “Well, she is a good person. But the main thing is that your country needs you to do the right thing.”

This obasanjo-shattering revelation from Miss Rice only corroborates the testimony of the wife of Mr. Obasanjo’s minister of defence, then Senator Daisy Danjuma, who it was revealed in a cable released by the whistle blowing site, wikileahs, had told U.S. embassy officials in Abuja that Obasanjo had lobbied her for her and her husband’s support for the third term agenda.

GEORGE W. BUSH: This Is Why I Refuse To Criticize Obama

Former President George W. Bush has a simple explanation for why he almost never criticizes his successor: He feels it undermines the office of the presidency.

In an interview that aired Thursday night on Fox News’ “Hannity,” Bush insisted he would not attack President Barack Obama even though he continued to have strong opinions about national politics.

“I don’t think it’s good for the country to have a former president undermine a current president; I think it’s bad for the presidency for that matter,” Bush said, according to video posted by Mediaite.

Bush, who is promoting his book about his father (former President George H.W. Bush), “41: A Portrait of My Father,” also said he had no interest in generating headlines for himself after serving in the country’s highest office for eight years.

“Secondly, I really have had all the fame I want,” he added. “I really don’t long for publicity. And the truth the matter is in order for me to generate publicity … I’d have to either attack the Republican Party, which I don’t want to do, or attack the president, which I don’t want to do. And so I’m perfectly content to be out of the limelight.”

Though Bush has avoided criticizing the Obama administration, the same can’t be said for his former vice president, Dick Cheney, who has repeatedly skewered Obama. Among other things, Cheney called Obama the “worst president of my lifetime.”

Read more: http://www.businessinsider.com/george-w-bush-why-i-refuse-to-criticize-obama-2014-11#ixzz3J9uYwKEu