Former President Olusegun Obasanjo has dismissed claims that he once sought a third term in office, insisting he never had such an ambition. He added that if it had been his intention, securing it would not have been difficult.
Obasanjo made the remarks on Wednesday during the Democracy Dialogue organized by the Goodluck Jonathan Foundation in Accra, stressing that no evidence supports the long-standing speculation.
According to him, there is no proof that backs the speculation.
“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,” he stated.
Speaking further, Obasanjo said getting debt relief for the nation while in office was a more challenging feat than seeking a third term.
“I keep telling them, if I could secure debt relief, which is harder than seeking a third term, and I didn then I could have secured a third term as well,” Obasanjo said.
Addressing the country’s leaders, he warned them against clinging to power, noting that it reflects a false sense of indispensability.
“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,” he said.
“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.”
