ABUJA: Only months ago it was unthinkable that Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo might try to stay in power beyond his constitutional departure date of 2007 because it would destroy his image as a champion of democracy.

Now, business leaders have added their voices to politicians clamouring for Obasanjo to run for another term and the so-called “third term agenda” has become a national obsession.

Obasanjo has said he will stand down at the end of his second term in May 2007, which would mark the first time one elected government has handed power to another in the 45 years since Nigeria’s independence.

But with a constitutional review coming up in the National Assembly and a widening campaign for an amendment to the presidential term, many Nigerians view the third term as approaching a fait accompli.

A bid for a third term would be inconsistent with Obasanjo’s record, which stands out on a continent where leaders have repeatedly changed constitutions to prolong their stay in power, sometimes as president for life.

Obasanjo made history in 1979 as Nigeria’s first military ruler to hand power to civilians. When he won presidential elections in 1999 the country had been run by military dictators for 15 years and Obasanjo became a symbol of African democracy.

More recently, as chairman of the African Union, he has

led efforts to uphold democratic principles across the continent.

Obasanjo’s purge of rivals in the ruling People’s Democratic Party (PDP) has also fuelled suspicions in the oil exporting country that the president could stand again.

Over the past year, Obasanjo has sidelined Vice President Atiku Abubakar, who had hoped to succeed him, by systematically removing his allies from the central party structure.

Then, in a series of reshuffles in the regions over the past two months, Obasanjo has imposed loyalists from above, often against the wishes of the party hierarchy and in defiance of rules requiring elections.

“What Obasanjo has done ensures that one man can fix the candidate for the party, whether that candidate is himself or someone else,” a Western diplomat said, asking not to be named. — Reuters