Former Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Babachir Lawal, has alleged that President Bola Tinubu could seek a third term in office if he remains in good health.
Lawal made the claim during an interview with Symfoni TV, where he also questioned the credibility of Nigeria’s electoral process, insisting that elections in the country are “no longer free, fair and credible.”
According to him, political parties routinely manipulate their primary elections, adding that he believes the same pattern could be repeated in the 2027 general elections.
“They would allow you to go to polling units pretending that INEC would do some bojuboju and announce the result that has already been handed over to them. I think that’s the end,” he said.
He further argued that election disputes would ultimately be left to the courts, while ordinary Nigerians would bear the consequences.
“The problem would now be the reaction of the people to that. My own assessment is that every Nigerian should just remain in his house while candidates would go to their courts and SANs would collect billions of naira, improvise them further and that’s the end.
“Nigerians would succumb to what we used to say in the military: with one bullet in your rifle you can get one thousand people to surrender because nobody wants to take that one bullet. Every Nigerian would just go home and sleep. A lot of people will not come home that day, but after the election they would come out to protest.”
Lawal also alleged that no political party could honestly claim to have conducted transparent primary elections.
“They can deceive themselves that they are campaigning. Every political party rigged its primaries. Up till now they are still fighting. Nobody can beat their chest and say they conducted free and fair primaries.
“Bola Tinubu will go for a third term if God gives him the long life to do it,” he said.
Nigeria’s Constitution currently limits presidents to a maximum of two elected four-year terms. Lawal did not explain how such a third-term bid would be pursued under the existing constitutional provisions.
