Former President of Nigeria, Olusegun Obasanjo, on Saturday, said he made two mistakes, which included the choice of his ‘number two’ ahead of the 1999 presidential election.
He made this known while answering questions asked by students from selected secondary schools that participated in the finals of the National Exhibition and Awards organised by Students for the Advancement of Global Entrepreneurship.
The event was held at the Olusegun Obasanjo Presidential Library, Abeokuta, Ogun State and also featured presentations and exhibitions of some products made by students of the participating schools.
According to the former President, the second mistake was his refusal to accept an asylum when he was told that the late Head of State, Sani Abacha, wanted to arrest him.
He noted that the action could have led to his death.
Recall that Obasanjo was democratically elected as Nigeria’s President in 1999 while the presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the 2023 elections, Atiku Abubakar, was his vice president.
However, Obasanjo did not mention Atiku in his statement.
The former president also spoke on his life and achievements both as a military Head of State and as a civilian President.
He noted that he had many mistakes, which he could describe as genuine mistakes in his life which God made him to overcome.
He said: “One of the mistakes I made was picking my number two when I wanted to become the President. But because it was a genuine mistake, God saved me.
“The second one was when Abacha wanted to arrest me. When he wanted to arrest me, I was told by the American ambassador that they would arrest me and that America had asked that I should be given an asylum. I said ‘No’. It could have been a mistake because I could have lost my life.
“I will say there are many things that could have been a mistake but God saved me from them all.”
Meanwhile, he noted that it would be difficult for youths to take over the mantle of leadership in Nigeria due to the increasing number of older candidates.
He said: “Not Too Young to Run campaign, and you can see that those that are contesting now are between 70 and 80 years old, how can the youths run?”
According to him, another factor inhibiting youth from running is the amount of money involved in going into politics.
“I hope that things should not continue like this”, he said.