Icons: Chief Olusegun Obasanjo, GCFR

• Born to a farming family of the Owu in Abeokuta, Ogun State on Friday, 5 March, 1937.

• He is a Nigerian political and military leader who served as Nigeria’s head of state from 1976 to 1979 and later as president from 1999 to 2007. 

• In May 1976, Obasanjo launched Operation Feed the Nation (OFN).

• In 1978, he issued the Land Use Decree which gave the state propriety rights over all land.

• The following year, 1979, he established Obasanjo Farms, Ota.

• In 2004, Obasanjo established the first private university of technology in Nigeria, Bells University of Technology (BUT), also known as Bellstech, in Ota, Ogun State.

• In 2017, Obasanjo became the first African president to establish a presidential library. Olusegun Obasanjo Presidential Library (OOPL). It is one of the biggest educational tourism institutions in Africa. It is located in Abeokuta, Ogun State and serves as a tourist attraction in Nigeria.

• Dr. Matthew Okikiola Ogunboye Aremu Olusegun Obasanjo clocks 88 today, Wednesday, 5 March, 2025.

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