Former Edo State Governor, Adams Oshiomhole, and the Minister of Regional Development, Abubakar Momoh, on Saturday, paid glowing tributes to the late founder of DAAR Communications, Raymond Dokpesi, for the role he played in thwarting former President Olusegun Obasanjo’s alleged third-term bid in 2006.

Both politicians spoke at the second Raymond Dokpesi Diamond Lecture organized by the Nigerian Institute of Public Relations (NIPR) in Abuja.

They also described the media mogul as a patriot who used his influence and media platforms to protect Nigeria’s democracy and support emerging leaders.

Momoh, in his goodwill message, recalled Dokpesi’s contributions to national development and his personal support for political figures from Edo State.

“It will take a very long time for us to forget all the things that he did. He supported so many of us from Edo because he was also from the state.

“Even when I had political challenges in the 2019 election, his television station was placed for me to air all my activities free of charge,” the minister said.

He revealed that the late Dokpesi personally reached out to lawmakers to resist Obasanjo’s controversial constitutional amendment that sought to extend presidential tenure beyond two terms.

“During the fifth National Assembly, there was an attempt to amend the Constitution. This is the man that should be credited for stopping it. He called me and said, ‘You are my brother; make sure you work with your people to ensure that the Third Term Agenda does not succeed.’

“Apart from using the AIT station, he was calling people one after the other to let them know it must not be supported,” Momoh stated.

The minister also recalled a conversation with the late AIT founder, saying Dokpesi had expressed his wish to see him become a minister someday—a dream he said has now been fulfilled.

On his part, Oshiomhole praised Dokpesi’s courage in using AIT to give voice to the ordinary Nigerian.

The senator representing Edo South described him as a patriot who promoted national dialogue without compromising the country’s image.

“Dokpesi’s station truly lived up to the name ‘Africa Independent Television.’ It gave opportunity for non-state actors to put their case, as well as state operators to respond,” Oshiomhole said.

“Even when the regulator threatened to withdraw their licence for allowing a smallish man like me to ‘trouble a big man from Ota,’ he stood firm. He used his station to promote national conversation but never to run down his country,” the former governor added.

Reflecting on Dokpesi’s legacy, Oshiomhole said AIT’s live coverage of the National Assembly debates during the third-term controversy ensured transparency and public accountability.

“When senators and Reps stood up to talk, they knew their constituents would hold them accountable. If we talk about using media to promote national interest, Dokpesi was there,” he noted.

He lamented, however, that Dokpesi’s goodwill was not always reciprocated by the political class.

“My only complaint to him, which I was able to make before he passed, was that he made the station available for a political party that didn’t reciprocate in the manner I thought it should.

“For me, we have lost a statesman in Edo State, one who supported people based on merit,” Oshiomhole concluded.

The tributes came amid renewed debate over Obasanjo’s alleged third-term ambition, following recent comments by political activist Dr. Usman Bugaje, who reaffirmed that the former president “did everything within his power” to seek tenure extension.

Obasanjo had denied ever pursuing a third term, saying, “I’m not a fool. If I wanted a third term, I know how to go about it.” But Bugaje, a former lawmaker, insisted that lawmakers at the time were threatened and offered money to amend the 1999 Constitution to allow three consecutive presidential terms.

The controversial amendment was ultimately rejected in 2006 after intense resistance from civil society groups, opposition figures, and several members of the then ruling Peoples Democratic Party—an episode that remains a defining moment in Nigeria’s democratic history.

A former Senate President, Adolphus Wabara, claimed that he turned down a N250 million bribe offered to support the controversial third-term agenda during Obasanjo’s administration.

When questioned about the veracity of this claim in an excerpt of a YouTube interview series, Untold Stories with Adesuwa, released in January 2024, Wabara firmly stated, “That’s very correct.”

Also, the former presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party, Atiku Abubakar, disclosed that his intimate relationship with National Assembly members when he was vice-president, stopped the former President’s third-term bid.

Atiku said the relationship enabled him and some lawmakers to stop Obasanjo’s third-term agenda, adding that he was eager to re-ignite with the National Assembly candidates after his election as president, along with their own successful election.

Dokpesi, founder of Africa Independent Television and Raypower FM, was widely regarded as one of the key figures who mobilized public opinion against the third-term agenda through his media platforms before his death in May 2023. (The PUNCH)