{
  "id": 8529208,
  "title": "Masari and I Rejected N650m Offer To Back Obasanjo’s Third Term – Farouq Aliyu",
  "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/09/19/masari-and-i-rejected-n650m-offer-to-back-obasanjos-third-term-farouq",
  "topic": "world",
  "section": "World",
  "published": "2026-09-19T19:02:52.000Z",
  "source": {
    "name": "Daily Trust",
    "slug": "daily-trust",
    "url": "https://dailytrust.com/masari-and-i-rejected-n650m-offer-to-back-obasanjos-third-term-farouq-aliyu/"
  },
  "original_language": "en",
  "account": "Former Minority Leader of the House of Representatives, Farouq Aliyu, has revealed that he turned down a N650 million offer to support former President Olusegun Obasanjo's bid for a third term. The bid was one of the most controversial issues during Obasanjo's presidency, which lasted from 1999 to 2007. At the time, Aminu Masari, who was the Speaker of the House of Representatives, also declined a N400 million offer to back the third term agenda. The third term proposal was a contentious topic during the period, with many rejecting the idea. In May 2006, the National Assembly rejected a bill that would have allowed Obasanjo to run for a third consecutive term. Aliyu claimed that during discussions about the third term agenda, Nuhu Ribadu, the chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, approached him to meet with Obasanjo. Initially, Aliyu rejected Ribadu's request, but later agreed to meet with Obasanjo. The former lawmaker insisted that he discussed the third term agenda and firmly stated that it would not succeed. Aliyu was offered N250 million by someone Ribadu asked him to meet with, but he did not accept the money. Masari, the Speaker at the time, also refused the N400 million offer to support the bid, and lawmakers were given a minimum of N50 million to back the agenda. Aliyu mentioned that late Muhammadu Buhari, Atiku Abubakar, and George Akume played significant roles in preventing the third term proposal from moving forward.",
  "summary": "Former Minority Leader of the House of Representatives, Farouq Aliyu, has claimed that he rejected the N250 million offered to him to support the third term agenda of former President Olusegun Obasanjo. He said the speaker of the House of Representatives at the time, Aminu Masari, also rejected the sum of N400 million to support […]",
  "key_points": [],
  "editors_take": null,
  "illustration": null,
  "coverage": {
    "outlets": 1,
    "also_reported_by": []
  },
  "ai_generated": true,
  "disclaimer": "Summaries, key points and the editor’s take are written by software from other outlets’ reporting and may contain errors — always check the linked original."
}