Former Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo has rejected long-standing claims that he sought a third term in office, insisting he never pursued such a goal.
Speaking on Wednesday at the Democracy Dialogue organised by the Goodluck Jonathan Foundation in Accra, Obasanjo said no living or deceased Nigerian can provide evidence to support the allegation.
“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,” Obasanjo declared.
The former president stressed that achieving debt relief for Nigeria during his administration was far more difficult than securing an extended tenure, adding that if he had truly wanted a third term, he would have achieved it.
“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 said.
Obasanjo also cautioned against leaders who cling to power, describing the notion of indispensability as both dangerous and ungodly.
“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,” he said.
“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.”
