I Could Have Secured a Third Term If I Wanted – Obasanjo

Former President Olusegun Obasanjo has denied long-standing allegations that he attempted to extend his tenure in office beyond the constitutionally permitted two terms.

Chief Obasanjo led Nigeria between 1999 and 2007.

Speaking on Wednesday at the Democracy Dialogue of the Goodluck Jonathan Foundation in Accra, Ghana, Obasanjo said no living or dead Nigerian can produce evidence that he ever pushed for a third term.

He declared, “I think I’m not a fool. If I wanted it, some thought I wanted it, I know how to go about it. And there is no Nigerian, dead or alive, that will say I called him and told him I wanted the third term. None.”

The former president argued that if he could secure debt relief for Nigeria,  which he described as a far more difficult achievement, then obtaining a third term would have been within his reach had he truly pursued 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.

During Obasanjo’s tenure, Nigeria secured an $18 billion debt relief package from the Paris Club in 2005, widely regarded as one of the defining achievements of his administration.

Obasanjo also warned against leaders who see themselves as indispensable, describing such a mindset as a “sin against God.”

“Some people believe that unless they are there, nobody else. 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,” Obasanjo said.

The 87-year-old elder statesman stressed that the best of leadership is achieved when leaders are young, vibrant, and dynamic.

“I know that the best is done when you are young, ideal, vibrant, and dynamic. When you are ‘kuje kuje’ (weak or frail), you don’t have the best,” he said.

Obasanjo’s comments come amid ongoing debates across Africa about sit-tight leaders and constitutional manipulation to extend presidential terms.