Former President Olusegun Obasanjo has recounted how his decision to return to Nigeria despite warnings of an impending arrest led to his detention and eventual imprisonment under the regime of late military Head of State, Sani Abacha.
Obasanjo shared the account in an interview with BBC News Pidgin, published on Tuesday, recalling how he received an offer of political asylum from the United States while travelling abroad but chose to return to Nigeria, where security operatives later arrested him.
The former president said he turned to farming after retiring from the military at 42, having attained the rank of a four-star general and served as Nigeria’s military Head of State.
He said farming was going well until Abacha’s government moved against him.
Obasanjo recalled that the American ambassador in Nigeria contacted him while he was travelling, warning that he faced arrest if he returned and informing him that the United States had offered him political asylum.
However, he said he declined the offer, insisting that he had done nothing wrong and did not want political asylum.
On returning to Nigeria, Obasanjo said his passport was seized before he headed to his farm, where his security personnel informed him that the premises had been surrounded by security operatives.
He recounted that a police officer in civilian clothing subsequently approached him, saying he had been invited by an Assistant Inspector-General of Police (AIG).
Obasanjo said he questioned the approach and decided to drive himself to the police station, where the AIG informed him that there were instructions to arrest him.
“I said, you are a fool. If AIG wants me to help, he will not be inviting me. He will come here,” he recalled.
He said he later realised that Abacha wanted to ensure that certain people were not left free, adding that he was initially held at an undisclosed location.
Carter’s Intervention
Obasanjo also recounted how former United States President Jimmy Carter intervened on his behalf by appealing to the Abacha government.
According to him, the intervention led to his transfer to house arrest before security operatives eventually took him away to prison.
He said the arrest that led to his imprisonment happened in the early hours of the morning while he was playing squash.
“Then President Jimmy Carter came. He pleaded. And then they put me in house arrest,” he said.
Obasanjo served as Nigeria’s military Head of State from 1976 to 1979, handing over power to the civilian government of Shehu Shagari.
Following Abacha’s death in June 1998, Obasanjo was released from prison. He subsequently contested the 1999 presidential election, which he won, becoming Nigeria’s first elected president of the Fourth Republic.
He served two terms in office, leaving office in May 2007.
Ademide Adebayo
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