Former Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo has dismissed long-standing claims that he attempted to extend his presidency beyond two terms, insisting that he never sought such a move.
Speaking on Wednesday during the democracy dialogue hosted by the Goodluck Jonathan Foundation in Accra, Obasanjo stressed that there is no evidence to support the speculation. “I’m not a fool. If I wanted a third term, I know how to go about it. And there is no Nigerian dead or alive that would say I called him and told him I wanted a third term,” he said.
The former president argued that securing debt relief for Nigeria during his administration was a much tougher achievement than pursuing a tenure extension. “I keep telling them that, look, if I wanted to get debt relief, which is more difficult than getting a third term and I got it, if I wanted a third term, I would have got it too,” he added.
Obasanjo also warned against leaders clinging to power, describing it as a false sense of indispensability. He said, “I know that the best is done when you are young, ideal and vibrant and dynamic. When you are ‘kuje kuje’ you don’t have the best. But some people believe that unless they are there, nobody else. They will even tell you that they haven’t got anybody else. I believe that that is a sin against God, because if God takes you away, which God can do anytime, then somebody else will come, and that somebody else may do better or may do worse.”
