Former Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo has firmly rejected ongoing allegations that he sought a third term in office, asserting that if he had intended to pursue such a move, he would have succeeded.
During the Democracy Dialogue organized by the Goodluck Jonathan Foundation in Accra, Ghana, on Wednesday, Obasanjo stated, “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 emphasized that his administration’s achievement in negotiating Nigeria’s debt relief was a far more significant political victory than any attempt to extend his tenure. He remarked, “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.”
In his address, the former president also warned leaders who refuse to relinquish power, labeling it a misguided belief in their own indispensability. He noted, “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.”
Obasanjo further stated that denying opportunities for new leadership is a “sin against God,” emphasizing that leadership is not solely dependent on one individual. He concluded, “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.”
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