Former President Olusegun Obasanjo has once again dismissed long-standing claims that he attempted to secure a third term in office during his administration, describing the allegation as baseless.
Obasanjo, who ruled Nigeria between 1999 and 2007, spoke at a democracy dialogue organised by the Goodluck Jonathan Foundation in Accra, Ghana, where he maintained that no evidence exists to back the claim.
“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 argued that securing debt relief for Nigeria during his tenure was a far more difficult task than extending his stay in office.
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“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 cautioned African leaders against clinging to power, warning that such tendencies reflect a misplaced sense of indispensability.
“I know that the best is done when you are young, ideal, 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 can,” 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.”