Former President Olusegun Obasanjo has recounted how he rejected an offer of political asylum from the United States despite being warned that he would be arrested if he returned to Nigeria during the military regime of the late General Sani Abacha.
Key Highlights
- Obasanjo says the American ambassador to Nigeria offered him US political asylum, warning he would be arrested if he returned home.
- He rejected the offer, insisting he had done nothing to warrant arrest.
- On his return, his passport was seized and he was later arrested by an Assistant Inspector-General of Police.
- Former US President Jimmy Carter pleaded with Abacha, leading to house arrest before Obasanjo was taken to prison.
- He was freed after Abacha’s death in June 1998 and won the 1999 presidential election.
Obasanjo also narrated how he ventured into farming after retiring from the army, only to be arrested and eventually imprisoned under Abacha’s government.
The former president shared the experience while recounting his ordeal during Abacha’s regime in an interview published by BBC News Pidgin on Tuesday.
From Military Head of State to Farmer
He explained that having attained the rank of a four-star general and served as military head of state by the age of 42, he considered himself to have reached the highest point of his military career, prompting his decision to retire and venture into farming.
“When I was leaving government as military head of state, there was — I was leaving too early. I didn’t join the army to retire at the age of 42.
“Now I had to retire at the age of 42. At the age of 42, I had become a four-star general. There’s nothing else I can do in the army. I’ve become the military head of state. That’s the highest political office I could rise.
“So what can I do? I decided I would go into farming. It really was going well, and it went well until I was arrested,” he said.
Why He Rejected US Asylum
Obasanjo said his troubles began under Abacha, who ruled Nigeria from November 17, 1993, until his death on June 8, 1998.
According to him, the American ambassador to Nigeria contacted him while he was travelling and informed him that the United States had offered him political asylum because of concerns that he would be arrested if he returned home.
The former president said he rejected the offer because he believed he had committed no offence that warranted his arrest.
“Abacha had decided that I must be liquidated; otherwise he would not be able to have his way. I didn’t know that. I was travelling and coming back, and the American ambassador in Nigeria called me and said his country had offered me political asylum because they knew that I would be arrested if I returned home.
“This was difficult for me. I don’t— I haven’t done anything. What do they want to arrest me for? Um, I don’t want political asylum,” he recalled.
Arrest and Imprisonment
Obasanjo said that upon his return to Nigeria, his passport was seized, after which he headed to his farm.
He said one of his security personnel stopped him at the entrance and informed him that government security operatives had surrounded the property.
He recounted that a policeman dressed in mufti later approached him and said he had been invited by an Assistant Inspector-General of Police (AIG).
Obasanjo said he initially rejected the invitation, insisting that if the police chief wanted to see him, he should come to the farm himself.
He eventually drove himself to the police station, where the AIG informed him that he had been instructed to arrest him.
“So it was my own car that I used to take myself to the police station. We saw the AIG, and the AIG said, ‘I have been instructed to arrest you,’” he said.
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The former president also recalled that former United States President Jimmy Carter intervened on his behalf by appealing to Abacha.
He said he was initially confined at an undisclosed location but was later placed under house arrest following Carter’s intervention.
However, Obasanjo said security operatives eventually arrived at about 1am while he was playing squash and took him away to prison.
“I didn’t know that it was a decision of Abacha that some of us must not be kept free; otherwise, he would feel unsafe. I was put in a place.
“Then President Jimmy Carter came. He pleaded, and then they put me under house arrest. Then they came one day; I was playing squash at about 1am.
“They came and said they were taking me away. And they took me away, and from there, I went to prison,” he stated.
Obasanjo was released from prison following Abacha’s death in June 1998. He subsequently contested and won the 1999 presidential election, becoming Nigeria’s first elected president under the Fourth Republic.
He was inaugurated on May 29, 1999, served two terms in office and handed over power to his successor in May 2007.
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