Olushola Omogbehin
Former President, Olusegun Obasanjo, has on Wednesday said that he is not ready to die anytime soon.
He made this declaration while delivering a colloquium titled “Burden and Blessing of Leadership: Reflections from Global Africa to the World” which was part of the lined up activities to mark his 89th birthday in Abeokuta.
Reacting to a fake letter in circulation where he allegedly spoke about his death, Obasanjo said “I dey Kampe” that they were only wasting their time.
He said: “They publish and circulate a fake paper credited to me that I am writing, giving notice of my death. That is their wish and surely not God’s wish for me. God has assured me that He has more for me to do on earth, and He has given me the wherewithal to do it.
“And those who wish otherwise are going to be dealt with by God Himself. I dey kampe as usual,” the former President said.
Adding to that, he said at 89, he would not die anytime soon, condemning those he alleged were circulating a fake letter in which he was purported to have written about his death.
Born on March 6, 1937, Obasanjo also condemned the aged long leadership failure that hindered the continent’s growth and economic prosperity.
According to OBJ, Africa should not be seen as a continent with problem but that full of potential that can only be fulfilled through selfless and courageous leadership.
Dwelling on the untapped potential of the continent, OBJ said: “Africa is not a problem to be managed but a promise to be fulfilled through honest, courageous, selfless, incorruptible and transformational leadership.
“Instead, a major part of the continent remains a theatre of preventable disease and suffering, starvation, conflict, insecurity and poverty.”
Obasanjo who sees leadership failure and not geography or history as the reason for Africa’s backwardness said:
“The primary cause is the failure of those entrusted with power to lead for the people and serve them rather than against them; to build institutions rather than subvert them; to welcome accountability rather than flee from it, to ensure equity and justice rather than enthrone injustice, inequality and inequity.”
In order to address the leadership crisis OBJ emphasised the need for leadership formation, not just training and the need for young Africans to be serious with democracy and be committed to governance that is accountable, transformational and transparent.
“We must invest not only in teaching leaders what to do, but in forming leaders who are constituted and imbued with attributes and values to do the job the right way.
“A continent that fails its youth does not merely waste a generation; it plants the seeds of instability that will haunt the next several generations,” he said.
Speaking on personal leadership experience during the Nigerian Civil War and as President of Nigeria from 1999 to 2007, he said:
“The loneliness I speak of is the loneliness of final decision… your decision will affect millions of lives. That weight settles on one pair of shoulders – the leader’s shoulders.
“I remember a few days before the Nigerian Civil War ended in January 1970. I was commanding the Third Marine Commando Division.
“My troops were positioned for the final push. Hundreds of thousands of Igbo civilians were trapped, starving, dying. On one side was the imperative of ending the war quickly to stop further suffering.
“On the other was the risk that a military advance would deepen the humanitarian catastrophe. No textbook told me what to do. No senior officer was going to make that call. It was mine alone. I made it. We saved lives by not shelling Owerri. History has rendered its verdict,” he said.
As the president of Nigeria from 1999 to 2007, he said:
“When I was elected President in 1999, the Nigerian people had endured years of military dictatorship, economic stagnation, and institutional decay.
“They did not elect a president, some of them thought; they elected a miracle performer. And when the miracle did not arrive in full measure overnight — as it never can — I could hear the murmurs of some of them. This is the burden: to be elevated by hope and measured by time, often simultaneously.”
