By Stellamaris
Former President Olusegun Obasanjo has revealed that he turned down an offer of political asylum from the United States, even after being warned he would be arrested if he returned to Nigeria under the regime of the late military Head of State, Gen. Sani Abacha.
Obasanjo said the decision was a hard one, because he did not believe he had committed any offence that justified his arrest. He disclosed this while recounting his experience under Abacha’s government in a video published by BBC News Pidgin on Tuesday. According to him, the American ambassador in Nigeria told him the United States had offered him political asylum because of fears that he would be arrested on his return. Obasanjo said he declined the offer and came back to Nigeria, where he was eventually arrested.
He said he was travelling and on his way back when the ambassador called him with the offer, made because the Americans knew he would be arrested if he returned home. Obasanjo said this was difficult for him, since he had done nothing wrong and wondered what he would be arrested for. He said he did not want political asylum.
The former military Head of State also recounted how he went into farming after retiring from the Nigerian Army at the age of 42. Obasanjo, who had reached the rank of four-star general and ruled Nigeria as military Head of State from 1976 to 1979, said he felt he had reached the peak of his military career and decided to turn to agriculture. He said farming was going well until his arrest under Abacha, who seized power in November 1993 after overthrowing the Interim National Government led by Ernest Shonekan.
Obasanjo said he was returning to his farm when one of his security personnel told him that government forces had surrounded the premises. He added that a police officer in mufti later approached him and said an Assistant Inspector-General of Police (AIG) had invited him. According to Obasanjo, he first turned down the invitation, insisting that if the AIG wanted to see him, the officer should come to the farm. He said he eventually drove to the police station, where the AIG told him he had been ordered to arrest him.
Obasanjo further recalled that former United States President Jimmy Carter intervened on his behalf by appealing to Abacha. He said the intervention led to his being placed under house arrest, but security operatives later took him to prison in a late-night operation. In his account, Carter came and pleaded for him, after which he was put under house arrest.
Then, one day around 1am, while he was playing squash, they came and said they were taking him away. From there, he said, he went to prison. Obasanjo was eventually freed after Abacha’s death in June 1998. He went on to contest and win the 1999 presidential election, becoming Nigeria’s first elected president of the Fourth Republic. He served two terms and left office in May 2007.
