Former President Olusegun Obasanjo has categorically denied ever pursuing a third term in office, stating that if he had intended to extend his tenure, he possessed both the knowledge and the means to achieve it.
The former leader made the remarks during a democracy dialogue hosted by the Goodluck Jonathan Foundation in Accra, Ghana.
His comments come amid lingering speculation over whether he sought to alter the constitution to extend his presidency beyond the two-term limit.
“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,” Obasanjo declared.
Obasanjo dismissed the rumours as baseless and pointed to his administration’s successful negotiation of debt relief as proof of his capacity to navigate even more complex political terrain.
“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 said.
He also used the platform to caution current and future leaders against the temptation to hold onto power indefinitely, warning that it stems from a false belief in their own 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.
Obasanjo criticised those who claim there is no viable successor, describing such a mindset as not only harmful to the nation but also spiritually misguided.
“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 added.
