Former President Olusegun Obasanjo has dismissed claims that he once tried to extend his stay in power beyond two terms, saying he never planned or asked for a third term.
Obasanjo spoke on Wednesday at the Democracy Dialogue organised by the Goodluck Jonathan Foundation in Accra, Ghana. He described the claims as baseless.
“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 said.
The former president argued that negotiating debt relief for Nigeria during his administration was a bigger challenge than securing a third term.
“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 added.
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Obasanjo also warned leaders against holding on to power at all costs. According to him, such behaviour is driven by a false belief that they are indispensable.
“I know that the best is done when you are young, ideal, 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.
He added, “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.”