I never told anyone I wanted third term, Obasanjo opens up

Former President Olusegun Obasanjo has dismissed claims that he once sought a third term in office, insisting he never made such a move.

Obasanjo spoke recently at a democracy dialogue organised by the Goodluck Jonathan Foundation in Accra, where he maintained that there is no proof to support the third term claim.

“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 said.

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The former president argued that achieving debt relief for Nigeria during his tenure was a far more difficult task than pursuing a tenure extension.

“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,” he added.

He also cautioned leaders against holding on to power, describing it as a misplaced sense of indispensability.

“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 can.

“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,” he said.