Obasanjo reveals how Abacha rejected carter, others’ efforts to secure his release

In a heartfelt remembrance of former US President Jimmy Carter, who passed away at the age of 100, former Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo yesterday recalled how the late US leader met with former military dictator Gen. Sani Abacha and other esteemed international leaders in an attempt to secure his release from detention.

Despite the interventions, according to Obasanjo, Abacha remained unyielding and broke several of his agreements with them.

Last year, on December 29, Carter, the first American president to live to 100 years of age, passed away.

Obasanjo was prosecuted and found guilty by Abacha, who passed away on June 8, 1998, on what turned out to be false accusations of coup planning. However, Obasanjo’s original death sentence was reduced to life in prison.

Many foreign leaders were stepping in to support Obasanjo because of his widespread popularity and reputation.

Obasanjo said he could never forget Carter, highlighting the efforts to gain his freedom. Apart from being one of his international friends who risked everything to rescue his life and secure his release from prison, he claimed that Carter’s actions during his time as US president and after his departure were unprecedented for the benefit of humanity in general and Africa in particular.

Obasanjo read the eulogy, “Jimmy Carter: The Departure of a Titan,” during a memorial service for the late American president at the Olusegun Obasanjo Presidential Library’s Chapel of Christ the Glorious King in Abeokuta.

Carter was characterized by Obasanjo as a modest and selfless individual.

However, the former president of Nigeria said, “Why should I choose to have a service honoring an American president who lived and passed away nearly 5,000 kilometers away?

The reason for this is because he was a great international leader and a man of integrity whose morality was admired by everyone. He was my wonderful and real friend, a man of God, and a lover of people.

“President Jimmy Carter and I were comparable in our early life experiences. He came from an agricultural family in Plains, Georgia, and I came from a farming family in the Ogun State remote community of Ibogun-Olaogun.

The principles of discipline, morality, hard work, integrity, kindness and humility, and compassion for the impoverished were ingrained in him by his strict parents.

“I fell prey to a militarist named Sani Abacha in the evenings of our lives, who wished to rule Nigeria indefinitely, until the end of his days.”

Obasanjo emphasized the part played by the former US president in the effort to free him from prison.

“President Carter was one of my international friends who went above and beyond to save my life and to get me out of prison,” he stated.

President Carter persuaded Abacha to release me from custody and place me under house arrest on my property during his trip to Nigeria. That, however, was short-lived.

“A lot of other friends and politicians stepped in, but from what I understand, President Carter was the first non-African leader to visit Abacha and specifically ask for my release.

To everyone who helped me get out of Abacha’s gulag, I will always be thankful. I would not be released, Abacha promised.

But a week after his passing, General Abdulsalami Abubakar, his successor, freed me and allowed me to travel throughout Africa and the rest of the world to express my gratitude to everyone who had contributed to my release.

I spoke with President Jimmy Carter in the US, and he informed me of all the attempts he made to secure my release with other leaders and Abacha’s unwavering support.

Carter’s statement to me, “Please, see Ted Turner and thank him for his generosity,” was the most unexpected thing he said. He approached me and requested my help in getting his friend Obasanjo out of jail. He and his family will be looked for by me here or wherever he decides to live.

I felt moved to tears and touched. My first instinct was to go to Ted, who told me that President Carter was right. I continued to return to President Carter whenever I had free time to thank him for his generosity. Although I will miss a wonderful and genuine friend, I am confident that we will cross paths again in paradise.

President of the Nigerian Baptist Convention Rev. Israel Akanji, who highlighted some of the tributes sent to Carter by international leaders, said in his sermon at the memorial service that the late president did not let his lowly origins define him until his death.

According to Akanji, who cited the Good Samaritan parable in Luke 10, Carter was a kindhearted individual who adhered to the maxim “What is mine is yours if you need it.”

Instead of folding their arms and feeling indifferent to the well-being of others, he urged leaders to show compassion.