Obasanjo has dared his critics to show proof that he wanted third term amid controversy.
NewsOnline Nigeria reports that Former Nigerian President, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo, has thrown a challenge to anyone alleging he sought a third term in office, insisting that no living or dead Nigerian can produce evidence to back such claims.
Speaking on Wednesday at the Democracy Dialogue organised by the Goodluck Jonathan Foundation in Accra, Ghana, Obasanjo dismissed the long-standing speculation as false and baseless.
“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 can say I told them I wanted it,” Obasanjo declared.
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The former president stressed that achieving debt relief for Nigeria during his tenure was a far greater challenge than securing a third term, adding that if he had truly wanted it, nothing could have stopped him.
“I keep telling them, if I could get debt relief, which was harder than getting a third term why wouldn’t I have been able to secure a third term if I wanted it?” he said.
Obasanjo, however, cautioned leaders against overstaying in power, describing such a mindset of indispensability as a “sin against God.”
According to him, leadership is best executed in youth and vigor, not when frailty sets in.
“Some people believe unless they are there, nobody else can do it. But God can take anybody away at any time, and someone else will step in—maybe even do better,” he noted.
