Illorin, Lagos and Akure — THE Senator Ibrahim Mantu-led National Assembly Joint Committee on the Review of the 1999 Constitution (JCRC) is set to present its report to the National Assembly in three weeks.

The report, according to a member of the committee who pleaded anonymity, will be presented as a bill to the two chambers of the National Assembly after its meeting this week in Abuja. The committee will take another look at the report to ensure that what they agreed on have been correctly reflected.

This emerged even as Kwara State Governor, Dr. Bukola Saraki, yesterday, said that Nigerians should not be anxious or entertain fears over the recommendations of the committee, since their report would still be subjected to the approval of the National Assembly.

However, in Lagos, Afenifere, the pan-Yoruba socio-political group, called on Nigerians to use both constitutional and democratic means to frustrate the speculated third term bid of President Olusegun Obasanjo.

In Akure, the Ondo State capital, an attempt to win public support for the third term bid weekend, suffered a major setback, following the flop of a rally scheduled to take place in the city.

Also, President of the Academic Staff Union of University (ASUU), Dr. Abdullahi Sule-Kano while kicking against the widely rumoured bid, said it is the height of contempt for democratic governance.

Stressing that the constitutional review process could not be truncated by any court process, the member of the JCRC, said that once the bill is tabled before the Senate and House of Representatives, the federal legislators would debate all the clauses one-by-one for each clause, there would be a vote, pointing out that no clause would be deemed to have been approved unless two-thirds of Senators and two thirds of members of the House of Representatives have voted in favour of it.

Dr. Saraki, who reassured Nigerians shortly on arrival from Port-Harcourt where he was given an honorary degree of Doctor of Science by the University of Port-Harcourt, described as unfair the insinuation that state governors hide under the immunity clause in Section 308 of the 1999 Constitution to loot the government treasury.

Some of the recommendations by the committee include the removal of the immunity clause from the constitution and the elongation of the tenure of the president and state governors, even as it also recommended that any prospective independent candidate for any elective political office could vie for the post without the endorsement of political party.

Asking Nigerians to stoutly resist the third term agenda, Afenifere in a statement signed by its National Publicity Secretary, Mr. Yinka Odumakin, expressed support for plans by the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) to boycott courts today and tomorrow in protest of violation of the rule of law by the Obasanjo-led administration.

Afenifere also warned of imminent danger as the bid if not dropped could lead to the country's break-up, saying: "We do not want Nigeria to slide into anarchy the way of Liberia and Sierra-Leone. This is why Nigerians must brace up to stop this journey to Kigali."

The flopped Akure rally planned by a group called, Movement for National Accommodation and Consensus for Continuity (MONACCO), was supposed to flag-off series of rallies planned for all the state capitals.

Investigations revealed that alleged threats from members of the Oodua Peoples Congress (OPC) and some militant youths, were responsible for the cancellation of the event billed for the Akure City Hall.

According to findings, OPC and militant youths were said to have sent warnings to the organisers of the proposed rally and members of the public, vowing to deal with both the organizers and those who attended the event.

Invitation cards issued by MONACCO indicated that while Governor Olusegun Agagu of Ondo State, was expected to be the chief host of the event, the governors of Ogun, Oyo, Osun and Ekiti states, were said to be special guests of honour.

Other notable personalities, who would have graced the occasion are five prominent first class traditional rulers in Ondo State, the strongman of Ibadan politics, Alhaji Lamidi Adedibu with Mr. Paul Mutwang of the Department of Political Science at Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria as the guest speaker.

Preparatory to the rally, the state police command had dispatched both mobile and regular policemen to the venue to avoid breakdown of law and order.

In addition to the men on ground at the venue, a police armoured tank was deployed to patrol the popular Oba Adesida/Onyemekun Road.

As a result of non attendance by any of the notable personalities by 12 noon, MONACCO co-ordinator for Ondo State, Mr. Sam Omoregie, announced that the event would mark the inauguration of the movement in Ondo State.

Speaking on the event, the Public Relations Officer for the Ondo State Police Command, Mr. Adeniran Aremu, said the police was not aware of the rally but sent their men there for maintenance of law and order during a meeting of a group at the City Hall.

Meanwhile, the National Association of Nigerian Students (NANS) has advised Nigerians to adopt democratic means in determining the fate of the third term agenda.

NANS president, Kenneth Hembe, while briefing journalists in Abuja at the weekend, commended the constitution amendment, noting that there is no harm in the proposed extension of President Obasanjo's tenure.