Former Nigeria President, Olusegun Obasanjo on Friday, disclosed that his attitude of not keeping quiet on national and international issues led him to jail under the military junta of the late Head of State, Gen. Sanni Abacha, in 1995.
Obasanjo went on to add that his desire to keep Nigeria from collapsing prompted him to run for president in 1999.
He admitted that, prior to the search, he had retired from the military at the age of 42 and moved into agriculture.
Obasanjo, speaking to 15 young men and women picked from across the continent to engage in an interactive session at his Olusegun Obasanjo Presidential Library, OOPL, over the weekend, urged them to take constructive leadership roles for the continent.
Obasanjo’s Special Assistant on Media, Kehinde Akinyemi, announced the 10 winners of the Prestigious and Life Challenging Future Africa Leaders Awards.
He said his prison experience was part of the challenges of life he had, and the journey to it started with his inability not to always keep mute.
According to him: “I joined the Army, and at the age of 42, I finished my career as a military officer, but what could I do? I was still young, energetic, and dynamic, but I was still young. So, I took to Agriculture, and during that time, I went into prison, and that is not what I really wanted.
“Going into Prison is really a challenge because I refuse to keep quiet. For me, if there is anything to comment on, I did comment on them, and so, I landed in prison, and that is a challenge. And, when I came out from prison, the situation was so bad in the country that some people felt the need to be saved, and pressure started coming.”
Obasanjo also responded to a question on the African debts, lamenting that some of the debts by some countries in the continent were reckless and outright corruption.
Most of the debts can not be explained. Some outright corruption”, he disclosed, citing a particular state in Nigeria where the site for a carpet industry was never cleared and the entire loan was repaid.
