Nigeria’s former President Olusegun Obasanjo has said he never wanted a third term, adding that he would have gotten it if that was his intention.
Obasanjo made the disclosure at the democracy dialogue hosted by the Goodluck Jonathan Foundation in Accra.
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 that, look, 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,” 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.”
